Eyeless Jack's Terrible Idea
by Sweetskull
Summary: Eyeless Jack is on a journey of self-discovery with his creepy new friend(?) Jeff the killer, and other colorful characters. Hilarity, violence, mushy romantic feelings, and awkwardness ensues. However, a much more sinister plot is contained within, and the truth is very dangerous. Rating will probably change.
1. Spying

Author's notes; This most likely terrible little thing is born out of boredom and my own disappointment at the lack of anything with Eyeless Jack in the spotlight. I really have no idea what I'm doing, and I am so sorry. There may or may not be ridiculous gay romance at some point. I'll also be taking a lot of liberty with the characters, and sticking mostly to their original stories and some of my own ideas for things. If you enjoy these, please do tell me- I'll be less lazy with updates if I hear people like it! Turn back now if all of that spooks you.

* * *

Jack sighed happily, safely nestled in a tree and without a care in the world. Well, not really, he was just pretending it was that way. He wasn't relaxing, he was spying. On a murderer, no less. Jack himself was no saint, but on a good day he didn't kill anyone- only borrow a few unneeded organs. He wasn't sure how his mind put it as 'borrow', since he never returned anything. He ate them, he ate them because he got this hunger. It was no human hunger, of course. He didn't even have to eat at all normally, not until he felt it. Why of all things, was it for human flesh? It was something out of a terrible horror movie, this need for a different kind of meat that clawed at his insides and caused him to go mad. Eyeless Jack, they called him. He gladly embraced the name, not having anything else to identify himself with- although that made it sound like he went around introducing himself in the first place, which he certainly did not. Not usually, unless faced with a more peculiar situation.  
This was probably one of those situations.  
Wandering was the norm for Jack. He had a cabin of his own he would stay in sometimes, but his way of living called for something a little less permanent, and so left him dragging himself around constantly. For the time that wasn't spent seeking those poor people he could end up traumatizing or even killing, he looked for some kind of clues as to what he was and what the hell he could do about it.  
In his blind searches, he didn't discover answers, but stories. Stories about people and the strange occurrences that went on. Some things were merely curious, while others had made even someone like Jack want to be sick- although the best he could do was choke out some black sludge, another thing Jack wanted answers on. The dark disgusting slime that dripped out of his mouth and eyes constantly, leaving a never-leaving bitter taste in Jack's mouth. You learn to live with it, but it's never truly comfortable.  
The things these stories told of were horrifying- they were not unlike himself. It was a start, if anything, to investigate these things. Although he felt he was pushing himself into a dead-end again, he had to try. It felt stupid, seeking out monsters that seemed far worse than himself, but anything to hold onto was worth a try, and Jack had plenty of time to spare.  
That was what lead him here, creeping around in hopes of what, to talk to a serial killer? A nice, friendly chat? To feel some sort of special connection, like in any cheap romance? Yes, that was exactly what Jack wanted, it seemed. Too late to turn back now, right?  
So he watched the small man with the terribly mutilated face do his work, slicing the innocents up in every way you could think of. A vague voice pushed in the back of Jack's mind, telling himself that if he really wanted to, he could've stepped in- saved the humans. This guy may be skilled, mainly for his seemingly strong amount of passion in murder, but Jack never felt a bit of pain and healed himself instantly, and would possibly be able to overpower or at least outlast the other. But then he would he a hypocrite, wouldn't he? Jack shooed away the guilt threatening to weigh him down, instead offering promises of answers or companionship in it's place. No no, not companionship. He did not need to become good pals with a psychopath with a strange face. But then again, Jack was also a psychopath with a strange face.  
After decidedly everything that moved was dead, the man stood in silence among the bodies, perhaps taking the time to appreciate his work. What is it one would think at that point, anyway? 'Job well done that is, stabbing all of these innocent civilians' and then they give themselves a pat on the back? Or is it something more along the lines of 'Ah, the blood of the innocents... I will now drink it and pray to the dark lords...'?  
Right, no, those are terrible ideas. Jack will never ask that question to any actual psychopaths, his pondering ends up with stupid things sometimes. Sometimes? No, most of the time they do, but that happens when you've been alone for so long.  
The last time he had looked the man had been seemingly admiring the death his actions had so purposefully brought, but Jack realized he had turned and had been staring almost straight at him for more time than felt comfortable. It wasn't as though he saw Jack, it seemed, but he knew something was there. Knowing that permanently etched on smile and unblinking eyes had been directed so close to him sent a shiver of discomfort, but also a spark of interest. The contradicting feelings settled finally on the refusal to back down from this terrible idea, as Jack dropped himself from the tree at last.


	2. First impressions

Author's notes; Hey, someone actually encouraged me to do more! Thank you for that, I hope this will be satisfactory until next time. I can't say I'm the most confident of my portrayal of Jeff, but hey, you have to make mistakes to learn. If anyone has tips for him, do tell. Unless you actually find the way I portray him to be fine, because you can tell me that too. My author's notes are too long, on with the story.

* * *

Ah hell. Gracefully leap down from your tree, he told himself. Make a good first impression, he told himself. Did he manage either of those things, if not at least one? No! No he didn't. Instead, he slipped on a branch and fell straight into a bush. Real inconspicuous of you, Jack.  
Okay, well, he's really good at falling right into bushes. That must seem very impressive. If anyone ever asks what skills he has, he can now proudly tell this person that he's simply remarkable at falling into bushes on his ass. Whoop de do.  
If he brushes off all of these stupid leaves before the insane guy comes out to investigate, maybe he can pretend it never happened. Why did he have to be so pathetic around others, anyway? Aren't monsters supposed to be cool? Monsters are definitely supposed to be cool, there should be some kind of place to complain about this. 'Excuse me, I'm a monster, but I'm not totally badass all of the time. I think there was some kind of mistake here! I demand a refund', he'd tell them. refund of what, and who are these people he'd be complaining to? Jack has no idea, he's just letting his head think of stupid things again.  
Jack stands up properly now, brushing himself off quickly. It's a rather cold night, but Jack enjoyed the cool breeze. Not that he could feel much of it on much other than his hands, since the rest of his body was protected by his trademark clothes and the mask on his face. The mask somehow made him feel safe, more secure. Something to shield out the world with. Not always for his own protection, but for the ones on the other side.  
Jack didn't want to go in that house. That wasn't his territory, and it had been so obviously marked as belonging to someone else entirely. Outside in the open air was a neutral zone, at least for now.  
So Jack stood still and waited. He waited as the killer openly gazed at him from a window, seemingly determining what to do with him. He waited as the murderer came out, stopped when they only had a small distance between them, and examined him quite thoroughly. Jack made no protest to this, and allowed the other to try to look him over to his heart's content, something which seemed to slightly please this madman. Of course it was clear he could never lose the smile that was cut into his face, but small sparks of emotion pointing towards it were something Jack didn't have such a hard time picking up on.  
Jack felt a frown pulling at his face under the mask, a bit uncomfortable with the amount of time that had gone by without either of them speaking. It was probably going to force him to speak up first, otherwise risking the other losing interest in him.  
"Hello...?" Jack finally muttered, voice a little shaky due to not needing to use it for so long.  
The murderer's eyes light up, unsettling grin widening with them.  
"You can speak?" He asks, sounding quite excited by this discovery, although also a bit alarmed. Like he was having a hard time deciding if he wanted to stab him or ask him out on a date. Okay, that's a bit of an odd explanation, but Jack was simply being honest and it made enough sense to him. Well, he kinda looked like he wanted to do both in the end.  
"I would hope it sounds like I'm speaking well enough, I haven't had the need to in a long while," Jack explained, voice still rather shaky. He hoped the shakiness would go away soon. Well, practice makes perfect, right?  
"Good, good... What are you, exactly?" The other asked, continuing the interrogation. He had a slightly scratchy, growly voice, Jack observed thoughtfully. Rivaling Jack's softer, quieter one perfectly. It fit him.  
"Don't know. Would very much like to find out," Jack replied simply.  
"Is this your face, or a mask?" The killer questioned demandingly, even going so far as to tap the front of his mask, intruding Jack's personal space further. Not that Jack would complain, he didn't care all too much if people did or didn't touch him anyway.  
"It's a mask."  
"And why do you wear it?"  
"No reason at first, woke up with it. It brings a bit of comfort now, hides my face from humans."  
"What's that stuff coming out of your eyes?" The serial killer gestures to his empty eyes, meaning the black muck. "It looks kinda tasty," the kid finished, snickering.  
Jack made a suspicious noise, crossing his arms.  
"_Tasty?_ Are you being serious with me? It's some kind of black sludge, and I can tell you straight up it tastes horrid!" His voice was less shaky now, that was good at least. Apparently getting a bit irritated helped. Jack took in a breath of air, biting his lip. "I don't know what it is. I don't really know much of anything about myself. All I know is that I'm not human, and I have a hunger that can't be satisfied by normal means. You have it too, don't you? A hunger. Even though you're still human, we're the same."  
The other stood still for a few moments, taking all of the information in.  
"The... same?" He breathed, emotions indecipherable at that time. "What kind of hunger do you get, then?"  
"I... well, to be blunt, I eat people. I mean, sometimes I just take parts that they can live without and leave them alive, but other times... you can put the pieces together, right?" Jack growled, a small bit of guilt in his tone.  
"A monster with morals! Oh, this will be fun..." The murderer said mockingly, snickering again.  
"Pft, yeah yeah, real hilarious, thanks." Jack mumbled, for once wishing he could roll his eyes.  
"So like, what, you're on some kinda mission to discover your true identity? Or are you just trying to make new friends?" The other said, tone still slightly mocking.  
"A little bit of both, actually."  
"Really?"  
"Eeeyup."  
"Hm... what's your name, anyway?" The psychopath asked thoughtfully, giving an expectant look.  
"Jack."  
"Kinda close to mine. I like that. What about your title?"  
"My what now?"  
"You know, your title. They must call you something."  
Jack smiled, as he actually knew this one, for once.  
"Eyeless Jack."  
"Catchy. I'm Jeff, and as my 'fans' call me, Jeff the killer," Jeff stated proudly, grinning again. He probably just made that title up himself, for all Jack knew.  
"Jeff, right, that was it, I kept referring to you as 'the crazy guy' in my head..."  
"You _what?_" Jeff growled, seeming slightly offended. However, Jack had spoken quietly enough to still be able to deny it.  
"What? Nothing. I didn't say anything, talking to myself."  
"Oh, I do that all the time," Jeff said cheerily, acting as though it was a similar interest or hobby they could bond on. Well, maybe for him it was, and Jack would take _any_ kind of bonding after all of the lonliness. "So, you've got a quest, you want me to help?"  
"Oh, well... I don't know, it probably sounds stupid to you-"  
"I want to."  
"What?"  
"I said I want to! I want to help you," Jeff said, catching Jack off guard with the eagerness. "You've made me a bit curious, Jack..."  
"I- really? I have? Oh."  
"Oh?"  
"Ah! Uh, right. So what is it, a deal? A partnership?"  
"How about 'friends'?" Jeff suggested, giving Jack the most unsettling smile he had seen out of him yet.  
Jack shifted uncomfortably, both a warm bubbly feeling rising up inside him and his face heating up, plus the feeling that this was a terrible, _terrible_ idea.  
Ah, fuck it.  
"Friends. I like that." Jack agreed, smiling happily from behind the mask.


	3. Stereotypical hideout

AN; I may just be posting a few different extremely short snippets of things on here in a row until I can write something bigger, but I want to post something to prove I'm still updating and to maybe make people a little bit happy. I'm sorry about that, but thank you for the reviews and a huge thank you to the first follower I've gotten on this. I'm really glad people actually like my rather interesting view on Jack and how he is, and yes, I'm no doubt heading towards a little fluffy Jack/Jeff if anything.

But small drabbles and off topic things are probably going to appear very often, as I'm not even sure what the real plot is yet, heh... If anyone has any requests or ideas, leave some for me.

* * *

Jack was pulled along, hand in hand with his lovely new murderer friend, on the street with only the occasional streetlight to shine in the darkness of the night.  
"Here we are, base of operations!" Jeff said, gesturing proudly to the most cliche abandoned house Jack had ever seen.  
Jack groaned overdramatically, shaking his head.  
"Christ, could you pick anything more obvious? The creepy old haunted house on the top of the hill is the first goddamned place the police will look once they hear about the friendly serial killer in the neighborhood!"  
"Don't say that, you're ruining it!" Jeff whined, crossing his arms.  
"You know what'll be ruining it? The police. The police will be the ones ruining it."  
"I can take care of the police! I've done it before, y'know, they're not that big of a deal..."  
"Oh yeah, that makes total sense, seeing how you always sneak around and murder people at night!" Jack drawled, using a sarcastic fake cheery tone.  
Jeff literally refused to speak to him for a little while after that, not acknowledging him at all other than letting him into the broken down house, but he eventually got bored of it and sat down next to Jack in the house, watching him thoughtfully.  
"Okay, it is kind of a stupid hideout, but it's cool, right?" Jeff said finally, a pouting look on his face.  
Jack snickered, giving up and nodding in agreement.  
"Yeah, we're living out the horror movie fanatic dream," Jack said, smirking. He paused, scooting closer to the other before speaking in a quieter manner. "You're right, it's actually pretty damn cool."  
Jeff grinned, his face leaning in the palms of his hands.  
"Ha, you dork."


	4. Not really 'people'

AN: Hey, heres another small thing. Hopefully these small things are likable enough as well. I will be adding more characters in, but most won't take too much interest in living with them or anything. I wish I could write a longer chapter, but I'm a bit stuck. Any suggestions, requests, or prompts are encouraged! I can write new fics, too.

Oh, and thank you for the follows and favorites I've been getting! Such a lovely thing to see.

* * *

"So, do you ever eat normal food?" Jeff questioned, perching on the railing of the stairs- Jack predicted he would fall off in a few minutes.

Jack had been walking through the hall, but stopped without any other thoughts when Jeff popped up. He had gotten accustomed to the random questioning. Sometimes Jeff would pester him constantly and never leave his side, and others ignore him completely and disappear for hours.

"Jeff, to me human flesh_ is_ normal," Jack replied cynically, as he always did when they got on the topic of his less moral habits.

"Yeah, sure it is, but do you eat it for sport or is that really all you can digest properly?" Jeff said doubtfully, attempting to cross his arms but failing in that, as it was very difficult while sitting shakily on top of the railing.

"Do I strike you as someone to eat like that for entertainment? Of course not! It's the only thing I can eat that actually fills me up, but I can put other things in my mouth- they just don't make the hunger go away," Jack explained hotly, shoving his hands in the pockets of his own darker hoodie. He could've sworn he'd gone over this with Jeff before.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, people_ lie_," Jeff growled quietly, seemingly thinking about something else.

"I'm not really 'people', Jeff, have you seen me?" Jack said, frowning.

Jeff burst out laughing, for reasons completely unknown to Jack, and he could only tilt his head and sigh in response.

Jeff fell off of the railing not a moment later.

Jack offered to help him up, resisting the strong urge to get in an 'I told you so', since he had already warned him about these childish things. Jeff took the offered hand and pulled Jack down with him.

Jeff was not doubt a sore loser, and strongly believed in taking others down with you when failing- and hell if he didn't love the chance to do just so.

Jack couldn't tilt his head again, but he did give a louder, more dramatic sigh.

Jeff looked quite pleased, and patted Jack on the shoulder. Jack supposed it must have been a mocking gesture, but he pretended it was comforting anyway, settling down on the floor - since he figured Jeff wouldn't let him leave anytime soon.

Having a friend was incredibly annoying, ridiculous, and fun, Jack decided. Probably not always completely worth it, but irresistible all the same.


	5. Mask off

AN: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but may I remind you that nobody has attempted to give me ideas? Tch. It's very difficult to write when you don't have ideas. I felt a bit motivated when I got some sudden reviews, though, and made this up in the middle of the night on my ipod notes- well, that's how I usually write these things anyway.

This chapter involves some suggestion that, _gasp_, there may still be a plot! It also involves Jeff being a weird little creep. That's always fun, right? As always, reviews are much appreciated. I'm still updating this, see? I'm glad everyone is being patient with me, at least.

I don't think any mushy romance will be around in the beginnings of these things. I much prefer a bunch of Jeff being creepy and Jack being confused and uncomfortable with it, anyways. Much more entertaining.

* * *

Jeff dragged a dead body into Jack's room in the middle of the night once, scared him half to death.

Jack personally never slept, and had been curled up in the corner of the room with the bright screen of the laptop shining in his face- the only lighting in the room making a more dramatic effect. Jack spent most nights either like this, outside, or with a book. He spent most days in general like that. There were very few things in life that he valued more than his books, computers, and fresh night air. Jeff being an exception, since he was making Jack like him so much, who knows why. It was like something you know you shouldn't be involved with, but you just can't help yourself. Their morals were such opposites, but they spent time together and had gotten close anyway- even though they would've been enemies in any other situation.

This was also the first time Jeff had seen Jack without his mask on.

The body had been slightly upsetting, sure, seeing Jeff had climbed through the window with it claiming in his own defense that 'I thought you might've been hungry'- which Jack had replied to with a icy and only half sarcastic 'I prefer my meat live'.

It wasn't that which had gotten to him, though.

Jeff was covered in blood, more than Jack had ever seen on him before, and it took him more time than was comfortable to figure out that none of it actually belonged to his companion. Jack hadn't looked over to Jeff when he first entered the room, you see, only smelled the stench of death stronger than usual and figured he had dragged his work home with him. Jeff had a very weird sense of logic, or lack of, and somehow thought pulling some dead person all the way back home with the risk of being seen was going to have some sort of reward. Maybe he wasn't wrong, in a strange way.

When Jack did look up, however, he reacted too fast. He should've known none of the blood was Jeff's, this wasn't the first time he'd turned up with a few stains, but something flashed in his mind that brought up a lot of fear- something that suggested this wasn't even completely related to Jeff, but something... else. Something off that made Jack feel uncomfortable and just a bit wrong inside. Something he didn't completely want to remember.

He did feel scared for Jeff right then. Simple panic of something happening to someone important was apparent as well, but the discomfort of some lost memory was making that even more stressed.

Jack had jolted up immediately, grabbing onto Jeff's shoulders, and feeling his own hair falling into his face. Dark, neatly trimmed hair that had been getting a bit too long recently with nobody to cut it. Hair that accompanied his unnaturally black skin, empty eye sockets, and sharp teeth. Other than that, his features were human enough. Jack had originally soft features, easy on the eyes, which looked more worn and dangerous with added inhuman features and time spent with this lifestyle.

He hadn't meant to show his face this soon.

Jack didn't realize that he'd left his mask off yet, either.

"Are you injured?" Jack demanded, the panic and concern in his voice seeming to shock Jeff.

Jack didn't know when he had gotten so protective over Jeff, it was a bit of a shock to him as well.

"It's not my blood," Jeff said quickly, brushing off Jack's concern, not completely sure how to deal with it. Jeff hadn't had someone worrying about him in a long time, not to mention he was more interested in addressing other things. He waited until Jack calmed down a bit. "Jack," Jeff said slowly, leaning in unnecessarily close to the other. It was then Jack realized his mask wasn't there, feeling the warmth Jeff's breath on his face. He froze. "You aren't wearing your mask," Jeff said quietly, drawing the words out and enjoying the new panic showing in Jack's face. Jeff didn't move, and neither did Jack.

Jack's hands were still on Jeff's shoulders, much looser now, he was just too stunned to move them.

Jeff brought one hand up, hesitating, before running a few fingers faintly over Jack's teeth. He pulled it away the next second, letting the hand rest on Jack's chest for a moment before ghosting down and falling to his side again.

Jack stared blankly.

It was so difficult to tell what Jeff was thinking sometimes. Just when you thought you had him figured out, he did something unpredictable- probably on purpose. Jack didn't think the other really wanted to be_ figured out_.

"You should be careful with those, might hurt someone," Jeff said, giving a small head tilt. He then stepped back, Jack's own hands falling away from Jeff's shoulders when he did so. Jack still couldn't say anything.

Jeff retreated from the room, this time using the door, thankfully. He left the body where it was, not so thankfully.

_What the fuck was that supposed to be?_

Jack was more than confused.


	6. Running won't save you

AN; Hello! I finally got to writing another update! I had the thought in my mind for a while, but here it is in actual writing. Would anyone like to see a chapter from Jeff's perspective, not much action, but a bit of clearing up his reasons for doing certain things we might be confused about?

I'm also happy people are still having good reactions to this fic, especially since it's the first one I've ever written. Anyway, reviews and actual ideas or suggestions will keep me updating. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and if so or not tell me why.

These things also just keep getting longer.

* * *

Jack scowled, showing a bit of the sharp teeth that were usually hidden away. "_Jeff_. Get the _fuck_ down here or I swear I'll come after you and pull you down myself," He hissed darkly, practically glaring at his complete idiot of a companion, who was currently on the roof. Practically glaring, since he wasn't certain one could glare without eyes- but he sure as hell could pull it off if anyone could.

Jeff watched him cautiously. "You wouldn't do that to me," Jeff said slowly, although he looked completely uncertain of his own words, and seemed to suddenly realize that Jack really very well could pull him down.

Jack grinned wickedly. "Oh, but I _would_. Do you want a demonstration? We both know I'm stronger than you are, Jeff. Running away won't save you."

Jeff cringed. "I don't want to go out! Not if you won't let me hurt anyone. It's not fair. It's just too tempting and mean of you. I don't like moving around in the daytime anyway, and-"

Jack groaned as he listened to Jeff's endless stream of illogical whining. It was childish and disgusting for someone of Jack's own strong morals to listen to. He usually tried to pretend he wasn't standing aside and looking the other way while innocent people died. Especially when he could just break his friend's neck and have it all be over, nobody else dying, so much solved with one person gone.

But he didn't. Reason one was that Jack was a coward. Reason two was that he easily cared about Jeff more than anyone else. All of it was horrible and disturbing, but Jack didn't want to risk Jeff. He needed him, really. He couldn't talk to anyone else, hadn't for as long as he had memories.

The loneliness was scarier than anything and Jack wasn't going to go back to it again. Never. It didn't matter what price he had to pay, what guilt he had and cowardly behavior he acted on, he wasn't going back.

Back to the matter at hand, anyone observing would probably be confused, Jack thought in an amused tone- if they were to wonder what they were arguing over rather than why two monsters were standing around and existing at all first, of course.

The simple explanation was that Jack was going to force Jeff to go to a grocery store because Jeff was an idiot. The simple explanation was also another confusing one.

Jack had noticed how unhealthy Jeff looked. Jack was a doctor of sorts, so he supposed it must be normal for him to notice these things about others. Jeff was also his friend. His only friend, literally. Of course he would notice little things and get worried.

A simple question, that's what Jack had asked. Of course, he just so happened to get an answer that probably shouldn't have shocked and angered him so much, but did anyway.

Jack had asked Jeff when the last time he'd eaten had been.

Jeff had informed him the time he'd eaten last was a time that definitely shouldn't be possible for a human, although not specifying a particular time, seeming to have forgotten when exactly he'd eaten last himself.

Jack was in a panic at this discovery, but also made a mental note to himself to study Jeff later for his own medical curiosity.

Jeff had also told him that he usually just grabbed some food from the houses of victims, if he had the time for it.

Jack immediately demanded that Jeff go to buy food with him, and when Jack didn't let the matter drop- well, Jeff decided that running off and hiding on the roof was a brilliant plan.

Jeff was wrong.

"_Shut up_ and _get down_. You are not getting a choice in this matter," Jack said in a mock cheerful tone, when he noticed Jeff was still complaining. "Last warning. Get down."

Jeff gave a miserable little sigh (that Jack decidedly found rather cute- maybe he should tease Jeff more often? Wait, since when was this teasing?) before climbing down again, eyeing Jack carefully. "What are you going to make me do, Jack?"

Jack smiled pleasantly. "Don't worry, you're in good hands."

* * *

"You've gotta be kidding me, it's this easy? You just put on a mask and pretend you're going to a costume party or whatever, and nobody asks any other questions?" Jeff questioned in disbelief. "I mean, I don't like hiding my face away, but this isn't such a bad idea if it really works."

"Masks are very useful, it's about time you learned that, even if you are a narcissist." One could hear the smirk in Jack's voice. "I can teach you a lot of tricks, you know."

"Wow Jack, I never expected Mr. Straight and narrow to be so manipulative," Jeff remarked, almost sounding impressed.

Jack hummed thoughtfully. "I wouldn't say it's being manipulative, but think what you like."

"Whatever you say, Jack. I see you in a whole new light now," Jeff said, snickering.

"How nice to hear," Jack said sarcastically. "Look, just don't show any violent or aggressive behavior and we'll be fine. The masks cause suspicion as well, seeing as they're a favorite of bank robbers and the like." Jack paused. "Please don't make anyone think we're bank robbers. That would be unpleasant and I would like to avoid that."

"Are you speaking from personal experience?" Jeff asked, half jokingly.

Jack let the silence speak for him. As if anyone needed any reminders or the times they were embarrassingly mistaken for a bank robber. He refused to talk about it. It is not fun at all, he would have to say if saying anything at all on the matter.

Jeff just shook his head and muttered an '_okay then_' before leaving it alone. One of Jeff's miraculous moments of better judgement shining through.

Jeff cleared his throat and started again. "So why couldn't you just come buy food for us alone if you're so good at this, huh?"

"Because, I want you to learn how to take care of yourself," Jack said firmly.

Jack had a feeling Jeff was smiling, although he hadn't said anything yet. It wasn't exactly the best sort of smile, he felt.

"Funny," Jeff muttered to himself in a strangely delighted sort of way.

"Excuse me?" Jack mumbled back. He didn't expect an answer.

He didn't get an answer, either, but Jeff walked closer to Jack from then on. Jack didn't know what it meant, but for a moment he didn't want to. He'd rather just enjoy the other's company and closeness, just in case reality caught up any time soon.


	7. You only need me

AN; Alright, this is a very short filler snippet of a chapter and I apologize, but I wanted to post something since I haven't in a while. It isn't the best, least I don't think so now, but I hope to promise something better later. I'll need lots of small moments between these two if we're going towards anything fluffy anyway.

I also got the most eloquent (sarcasm) review of someone noticing, let me repeat the words exactly, 'Ooooh its a gay fanfic POOP :(' this is from anonymous user 'bitches'. What a lovely name, did your parents give you that?

_Wow_. This is a gay fanfic? Gosh, I didn't even _notice!_ Thank you for telling me. Wowee, what a shocker, it wasn't like I said that right away or anything.

Excuse my sarcasm. On with the tiny little chapter.

* * *

Jeff crouched down, whispering out the beginnings of words he'd spoken many times before. "Go to sle-"

Jack slapped Jeff on the back of his head, causing him to let out a small yelp. "Don't you dare use that damned catchphrase on me!" Jack hissed irritably. "I can't even sleep in the first place!"

Jeff pouted. "Maybe if you tried _really hard_-"

"I don't really want to try to sleep around you, Jeff, no offense."

Jeff shrugged. "Fair enough, but maybe if you just had the right situation then-"

"What 'right situation'?" Jack asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't want to hear it, never mind," Jeff said with a wicked grin, turning to look out the window.

Jack shook his head and focused on his computer again. He was trying to research things about none other than the person sitting next to him, but said person kept interrupting and making weird comments. Jack blamed it on boredom and hormones. Sometimes it was clear to Jack that Jeff probably didn't have any other friends either, but was too proud to admit it.

Jeff was too proud to admit a lot of things, or simply gave weird uncomfortable answers, so Jack researched things online rather than asking him questions directly unless he found something too confusing to avoid asking about.

Jack had two very clashing views of who Jeff was lately. Sometimes Jeff seemed to resemble a normal teenager- which had always struck Jack as being a bit sad, and the other times Jack was quickly reminded that Jeff was a cold-blooded killer that wasn't to be taken lightly.

Jack often wondered if one was his true self and the other a mask, but he also kept the theory that maybe Jeff was both of those things, somehow.

Jack frowned when he noticed he'd been staring at Jeff for a while. He thought about Jeff too much, but he couldn't really help it.

It was just very odd to look at his friend and remember that he was once just a normal human boy. You could see it, too. Jeff was smaller than you'd expect. It wasn't so hard to imagine him with a life and a family.

Jack wondered if he himself had a family and a life once as well, even if he couldn't see it in himself like he could with Jeff.

"Like what you see?" Jeff asked jokingly, noticing Jack's staring. He'd probably noticed for a while but waited a bit to speak up.

Jack sighed. "What's having a family like?" he asked quietly.

Jeff froze for a moment, before shuffling over to Jack's side again. He looked at Jack for a moment before pressing their foreheads together, their black hair mixing a little bit. "You don't need one," Jeff growled softly. "You only need me, right?"

There was something odd in Jeff's voice- what was that... desperation? Jack's mouth opened a little in surprise, but he nodded silently. He was a little alarmed by the sound of that, but he was agreeing just to be safe.

He also made a note not to mention families around Jeff ever again.

It wasn't really an angry reaction as much of a weird one.


	8. That was a mistake

AN; Wait just a second. Something that isn't fluff? What? I must be being tricked, does this have something to do with a _plot? _I was told this fanfiction wasn't supposed to have a plot, just cuddling. I want my money back.

Anyway, I hope nobody is mad at me for adding in my own backstory for Jack, because that's what I'll be doing. I promise I'm not trying to reject your headcanons. If you don't have any headcanons- well, great! Then you'll probably be able to take in this stuff easier. Backstory will be given in weird dreamy things and won't all be revealed right away, although it probably isn't that difficult to guess things.

Here, have some short 'what the fuck is going on' moments. (And one more thing, thank you for the recent reviews, they're lovely!)

* * *

Jack stood alone and shaking in a hospital room.

The door was barricaded now, even if a little rushed, but it didn't seem to ease off any terror.

He held a scalpel as a means of defense- saying weapon would make him want to throw up, and he'd already done so several times, so it'd just be dry heaving he wanted to avoid.

Blood clung to his clothes even though he'd tried to desperately get it off with his hands, which hadn't worked at all. It smelled horrible. It was on him, and that could mean that he was contaminated. A chill went down his spine.

Jack heard a cough from the end of the room, the part covered covered from view by a curtain. He spun around. He wasn't alone.

Jack gave a choked sob, and took a small step forward.

It felt like the crying would never stop.

* * *

Jack's head snapped upward with a jolt. He had just seen something. It was hazy, but had that been him? Was he just sleeping? How?

He stood up slowly, feeling his body aching like hell and letting out a groan. He took a sharp intake of breath and looked around wildly.

An unfamiliar room. Someone's bedroom.

Jack hissed quietly, and he shuffled slowly towards a sleeping form in the bed with their head down, covered by a blanket. He reached a hand out to shake the person's shoulder, but jumped when feeling how light it felt. He pulled to turn the person over.

The body fell onto the floor.

Jack tried to scream but no sound came out of his mouth, he instead turned to throw up the black sludge, still coughing uncontrollably even after it was all out of his system for the time being.

A dead body- not a living, sleeping one. With all the innards gone, skin and flesh torn into at the stomach area. It had a few small, neat slices in a few places, but it was like someone had just gotten impatient and used their hands and teeth instead.

Jack didn't even have the heart to try to look at the face.

But it did look like he had the heart earlier. Who else could've done all of this, right? Jack laughed shakily.

Why had the body been put back into the bed and covered with a blanket? Had he done it out of guilt?

Or had it been seen as a fun surprise for someone to find?

Jack looked down at his hands to see what they looked like. That was a mistake.

Jack threw up again.


	9. Neat freak

AN; Wow, the reviews lately, honestly, you're making me blush (Should I be replying to everything? I'm still new at this fanfiction business, you guys have to help me out a bit).

I've been thinking, and I think I'll be able to keep this going for quite a while, since I have an actual plot going on now. Having a plot is fantastic, but I hope I'm not the only one enjoying the existence of a plot. I wonder how many chapters of this people would be willing to read... (That's actually a good question)

I promise Jeff will have something to do soon enough, even if I do adore focusing on Jack- because I have to say I really enjoy him and my own interpretation of him, he's never boring to write for (Quite easy to write for, really). I'm still glad others don't find my interpretation of Jack strange at all either. (Telling me how you feel about my Jack would be nice too, since I know who he is but knowing what feel others get off of him is good to know for later reference. Or not. I like any feedback, it always reminds me to write for this.)

I hope to write another chapter soon. Maybe I'll have updates more often.

* * *

Jack stared blearily into his own empty eye sockets, splashing his face with water and scrubbing at the black gunk that never went away- he just had to be a neat freak, didn't he?

He wasn't quite able to cry in a traditional way, and he wasn't quite sure if that was a blessing or a curse. Well, not having normal tears didn't mean he didn't try anyway. At least he couldn't get all snotty, he supposed. But then he'd also have hours spent getting black muck off of his face.

"Disgusting," Jack muttered at his mirror image. "This is disgusting, _I'm_ disgusting-" he paused, sighing and running a hand through his hair. "No, there is no need for that. I do not need to do this to myself again, nothing good ever came from it before. I respect myself. I wasn't..." he eyed the mirror again doubtfully. "I wasn't myself when I did that to that poor man," he finished a little more confidently. Just confident enough to hide the fear and uncertainty in his voice.

Jack gave himself an encouraging grin, but froze in shock and had to spend extra time in the bathroom cleaning the remains of the dead man in the other room from his teeth.

Jack returned to the dead man's room briefly to politely place a blanket over him, as one did in some situations with bodies, and as this situation certainly called for.

Jack quickly left the room again to avoid the smell. He felt horrible for whoever would have to find this room again, and that they'd most likely have a worse reaction than he did.

At least they wouldn't have to feel the horrible heart crushing guilt that he did.

Jack decided to snoop around a little bit, since he hadn't taken the time to investigate the rest of the apartment, being too life shatteringly panicked before.

Now that he had spent too much time in the bathroom (which Jeff complained about, even though Jeff only wanted to get in to stare at himself in the mirror for equally obnoxious amounts of time- Jack mentally noted that he would have to buy Jeff a hand mirror), and felt guilty over things he didn't remember doing, he could pretend to be a detective all he liked.

The investigation didn't turn up anything interesting, other than feeding Jack's guilt. The man seemed like a loner and didn't have anyone he was close to, as far as Jack could tell, other than a sister. Who he lived with. Jack tried to convince himself that somehow she wouldn't be the one to find him. Something about that made Jack's chest hurt, bad.

A part of Jack felt he needed to know these personal things about people he hurt to punish himself, teach him a lesson. Another part knew he needed to know because the people he hurt deserved to be known about, rather than just thrown away like trash. Trash they weren't, because these are living breathing creatures. Or, they were.

Remembering who they were kept him from turning into something else. Kept him sane.

Kept him at least a little 'human'.

Jack left soon after that, still feeling miserable and nauseous, and a little disappointed he hadn't found anything.

Jack, however, did find something that he didn't quite think about until some time later. It wasn't even something very big, or anything he could prove was connected so early on, but somehow it struck him as a little odd and worth keeping in mind.

The man he had killed had worked at a hospital once, but didn't any more. Jack knew because he saw that the man had been rejected from a new job because of it, and the person who rejected him noted it was due to the 'incident' he'd been involved with in his previous job at the hospital.

He could just be jumping to conclusions, but it was something to start with, and more than anything he'd had to look into before.


	10. Squish

AN; Eyeless Jack was here and Mitch is a loser.

No, but really, Mitch is pretty lame and has terrible storytelling skills, excuse me for saying so. The original Eyeless Jack creepypasta is rather terrible, I'd say, although it gives me a base for an interesting story and character.

This chapter doesn't directly include either Jack or Jeff, but instead some people to cause some trouble for them. I've wanted to include Mitch in this story somehow, so here it'll be, we have a couple of revenge seeking Jack hunters hanging around. Not that they seem very dangerous yet, huh.

Yes yes, it's an original character of sorts, but I promise that she won't be paired with anyone or anything ridiculous. I am not that kind of fanfic writer. She's just here for plot reasons (But who knows, she could become interesting. Or she'll just be annoying, you know how it goes), as some other people will be. This isn't the most interesting chapter, but it's for setting things up.

This chapter isn't that interesting, I might have to rewrite it later, but stay with me for now.

* * *

Lora Fisher wasn't thrilled when she found her brother, Frank, brutally murdered in their shared apartment. Her only family in this world was gone and she could hardly believe something like this would happen to her.

She felt misery, but the feeling of sickness was far stronger than that.

Cannibalism, that's what they said it was. They didn't know for sure, though, it was just a theory. They didn't tell her that directly, she just overheard it.

She hadn't eaten in hours because everything she touched looked and tasted disgusting, and she knew she'd throw it back up right away. She kept having flashbacks to the moment she'd seen him.

She'd gone into his room thinking he was sleeping. Frank was a lazy man, always had been- except when he'd worked at the hospital.

When she saw the body shaped lump under a blanket, she thought he was playing a joke. Or had fallen off of his bed.

She had commented about him playing a joke out loud, and then kicked him playfully.

The _squish_ feeling was enough for her to turn cold. "Frank?" She had called shakily.

She moved to pull away the blanket.

The smell would've tipped most people off. If she hadn't had a cold and a stuffed up nose, she would've been saved from so much misery.

The scream she let out caused several neighbors to call the police.

And when the police got there, they found a girl screaming and sobbing, a long dead and mutilated man in her arms.

They had to pull her away before she further bloodied her clothes and body.

She'd taken a shower and gotten a change of clothes since then.

They'd said there had been murder and 'incidents' similar to this one. Talked about what a horrible person it had to be to do all of this.

Lora didn't think it was a person. Whatever did this to her brother wasn't any person, it was a monster. This wasn't a normal case. She swore she wasn't just imagining things because she felt horrible, there was something off about this.

They said she was a suspect. They couldn't think that.

She'd have to find the real suspect herself.

* * *

To: mitch

From: lorafishes

Subject: Help

Hello, my name is Lora.

I've read all the stories here, and I think my brother was murdered by Eyeless Jack.

I don't know anything for sure yet, but I need your help. If it really was him, and I believe it was, it'll be worth your while.

You want to find him just as much as I do, right?

Lora Fisher

* * *

Mitch leaned back in his computer chair, eyeing the email silently. "_Finally._"


	11. Questionable thoughts

AN; Cute chapter to apologize for the lack of cute in previous chapters.

Three updates in one day. Holy hell.

* * *

Jeff hadn't seen Jack in hours.

This was officially the worst day in Jeff's life, he decided. Of course there was also that time a police officer had shone a flashlight in Jeff's eyes, and there was that cat catching him off guard when he was trying to kill someone, and-

Okay, this worst was a little worse than those worsts, Jeff admitted to himself doubtfully. It was the worst of the worsts.

Missing Jack's just don't happen. If Jack ever leaves, he'll repeat the fact that he's leaving about ten times. That wasn't even an exaggeration, and Jeff exaggerated things a lot.

Jack acted like if he left Jeff would do something terrible or cry about it. It wasn't like Jeff couldn't live without Jack.

It wasn't like that, it just felt a little lonely in a big house all by yourself.

Jeff had never felt lonely before.

He decided feeling lonely was the stupidest thing ever, and to Jeff, it truly was. It was a little... painful?

He could live without Jack, right?

Who cared if he could or couldn't, though.

Jeff just wanted his Jack back.

* * *

Jack opened the back door quietly, a weary expression on his face and a weary feeling in his body to match. He made sure to shut it carefully, trying not to think about how uncomfortable a door that didn't lock made him feel, and walked through the kitchen and into the front hallway.

Jack's mouth opened and he gasped when he saw Jeff.

Jeff was asleep. In the hallway.

_Well,_ Jack thought slowly as he closed his mouth and crouched down next to Jeff, examining the other. _Hell if that isn't the cutest thing I've ever seen._

Even if it was a murderer. With his face sliced open. And it isn't like he can close his eyes either, so that must look really damn weird.

But his hair had fallen all over his face and he was all huddled up against the wall, arms around his legs. Jack could even hear him breathing, and it was soft. Not like his scratchy growly voice was normally.

Jack covered his mouth, biting his lip and giggling a little bit.

Jack reached over to touch Jeff's hair on impulse. It felt a little strange, but Jack didn't mind. Like how he felt with a lot of things involving Jeff. A little strange, but Jack didn't mind. Even when they were a lot strange.

What was he doing anyway, petting him? Oh well, he just felt... a need to. It wasn't like Jeff was awake, anyway, nobody had to know.

_Jack, _Jack thought to himself, shaking his head. _You are acting so strange right now._

Jack grinned and chuckled again. _And somehow,_ he answered himself. _I don't care a bit._

If anything could cheer a person up after murdering someone, it was definitely having questionable thoughts about your only friend.


	12. Jack-o'-lantern

AN; ...What the hell is going on in this chapter. This was a little uncomfortable to reread, and I think I've confused myself a little bit.

The thoughts that went through my mind included 'Who is this', 'I'm uncomfortable', and personal favorite 'No can you not do that please don't that's unpleasant'. You know, I have vague ideas of what will go on in this fic, but mostly I let my story flow on its own. And right now a strange person wanted to show up, so that happened.

All is not as it seems. (I'm still confused and distressed for Jack)

Take some creepy past stuff.

* * *

Jack choked back his tears and readied his scalpel. "You're one of them," He mumbled. "Stay away from me."

"No, no- what are you doing, doctor? Please, put the scalpel down," The person said quickly, taking a small step forward. Jack didn't remember who it was now.

"You're sick," Jack hissed. "Don't come any closer. You're hurting people. You'll hurt me."

"Isn't that what you really care about?" The person said coolly, suddenly changing tones. "Yourself? Why mention that I'm hurting other people?"

Jack's eyes widened. "What are you talking about? Of course I care that you're hurting other people, any decent sane person would."

"You're not worried about them, you're worried about what'll happen to you, right?"

Jack's face twisted in both fear and anger.

"Well, you don't need to worry."

"Why is that?" Jack asked slowly, forcing his voice and face into an eerie calm mask. He needed to buy himself time to get out of this. Crazy people just loved to talk, so might as well keep this one happy and distracted.

And this crazy person seemed thrilled at the chance. "The others are a lost cause, so you don't need to waste time on that," A smile from a blurred face. "And as for you, you and I are already the same, so there's no use in 'hurting' you."

Jack froze. "You're lying."

"Am I really? Is that what you think, cowardly doctor?"

Why couldn't he see who it was. Why didn't he remember. "I'm not like you."

"No, you aren't, you're even better."

Jack only blinks.

"You're the one who started all of this in the first place, after all."

Jack's heart sank. "I didn't do anything."

"You just don't see, do you?" They shake their head. "Maybe it's these eyes that are faulty."

"What?" Jack's throat felt dry. So very dry.

They were still smiling. Getting closer. "I'll fix you. Hold still."

Jack couldn't move even if he wanted to. Why? Why were his feet stuck to the ground? Why couldn't he move? This wasn't right. Something was very, very wrong. Who was that? What were they doing?

The blurred face came very close to him, and examined him for a moment. The smile softened. "This won't hurt a bit," They said, and then stabbed their fingers right into his eyes.

Jack didn't know if the noise was coming from him or something else any more. All he knew was the pain.

Pulling and ripping. Ripping and tearing.

His head was being treated like a pumpkin, and someone was pulling the insides out, but he was still far from being a proper jack-o'-lantern.

Jack couldn't see anything anymore. Nothing except for one thing.

The blurred smile was burnt in his mind.

Jack was now certain the noise was coming from him.

This won't hurt a bit, they said.

There's no use in hurting you, they said.

Liar.


	13. My favorite color

AN; Introductions for these losers. Who knows, we may grow to like some of these guys. Or not. Either way, they'll be useful in the plot hopefully.

I'm updating a lot today, so make sure you haven't not seen and accidentally skipped any chapters.

* * *

Lora waited quietly at the back corner table of an outdoor cafe, watching the entrance like a hawk. She got up when she spotted a man a little older than she was, difference being one I'm their early twenties and the other in their late twenties.

"Mitch?" She asked cautiously.

"Yes. And you're Lora," Mitch confirmed in a clipped tone.

Lora offered a hand, but Mitch ignored it. Lora decided she didn't like Mitch very much, even if she needed his help.

Mitch was a rather arrogant looking man with a seemingly constant disdainful look plastered on his face, but he really looked rather ordinary and a little ratty, with a haircut that looked like he'd done it himself. Even if self absorbed, he didn't seem to be the most mindful of his looks at all. Had he let himself go after the incident she'd read about, or was he always like that?

There was another man behind Mitch, who looked a little out of place due to how thrilled he looked to be there. He was also scarily tall, which caught Lora off guard.

Mitch scowled when he noticed Lora eyeing him. "He's tagging along. This guy's obsessed with all the paranormal trash. He'll either be useful or annoying as hell."

The paranormal trash fan in question smiled brightly at Lora. "Winston Blair, nice to meet you. And I wouldn't say it was 'trash', per se."

Winston looked like the definition of an easy going goofy guy, with short light brown hair, a huge amount of freckles, and a big grin on his face. He was also almost clean enough to be considered the opposite of Mitch. (If Mitch was only a medium amount of unclean it would work, too.)

He seemed like an okay guy, even if a little odd, but he was still too tall and Lora a little too shy with people that big, so she didn't offer her hand to shake. He didn't seem to mind.

"Lora Fisher," Lora introduced herself, giving a brief acknowledging nod instead of the handshake.

Lora was an athlete who liked to run marathons and had gotten quite used to wearing sporty clothes and having her hair tied up in a bun, or anything other than simply having it down.

She'd recently dyed her hair a bright cherry red, but she now regretted it every time she looked in the mirror due to the color reminding her of certain things that had happened far more recently. She hadn't dyed it to something else because she both didn't have the energy for something frivolous like that, and somewhat wanted to be reminded so she wouldn't back down from doing this.

Mitch seemed to actually look at Lora for a moment, taking the time to eye her hair disapprovingly. "Christ, you'd be seen from a mile away with that color," he muttered bitterly.

"I think it looks nice," Winston commented politely. "My favorite color is red."

Mitch looked over at Winston like he ruined his entire life just by existing. "Please don't try to make small talk. Or just don't speak, period."

Lora fake coughed to get their attention. "Shouldn't we be going to my apartment?"

"Yes," Mitch answered quickly, perking up. "Lead the way."

Could these people really do anything? They didn't seem any smarter than she was, really, but it was too late for regrets.

Lora sighed. "Absolutely."


	14. Tea sounds lovely

AN; Five pages. That's like three or more of my normal sized chapters in one. And not of Jack and Jeff. Feel free to slap me, but these guys are important too. Plus I like these idiots, and it_ is_ my fanfiction. It's sort of character development stuff, I guess, and a lot of explaining why things actually are at least a little realistic than they might've seen. I really hope these guys are at least slightly likable sometimes.

I promise Jack and Jeff fluff in the next chapter. But for now we must watch the progress of their currently lame antagonists. One of these guys is more a more sinister and dangerous character than the rest, after all. Probably isn't that hard to guess who, really, it's pretty obvious. You can give me a guess if you want anyway- maybe you'll be rewarded. (People who pay attention to these guys and not get fed up with reading about them at all will get my gratitude any day, really.)

I also drew a thing. Have the thing, it's on my tumblr. I made a tumblr just to post this drawing somewhere other than one of those shady looking image sharing sites. Sigh. My tumblr is themagnificentsweets.

So now I have a blog to post stupid fanfic related things on. I might talk about things on there, and you could ask questions about things. Not that I really think anyone wants to, but it's a possibility. I'll probably put cute Jack/Jeff art on there later, which I know is what you're actually interested in.

I promise more chapters shortly, friends. In the meantime, give me more reviews, I'm greedy and like encouragement.

* * *

Lora picked up a bouquet of flowers left at her apartment door, a small smile appearing on her face. "No note again. I wonder who keeps sending these."

"Secret admirer? I wouldn't be surprised," Winston suggested.

"That would be flattering, but I don't have time for dating. Especially now," Lora said calmly. "I think they're for the loss of my brother, anyway."

"She's not interested in dating, Blair, better remember that," Mitch snorted.

Winston laughed it off. "I'm just being friendly, I swear. Nothing threatening here, miss."

And there wasn't, Winston looked harmless. As long as she ignored his height, that is.

Lora narrowed her eyes at Mitch and stuck her tongue out at him when he wasn't looking- not that he really tended to make eye contact anyway.

Winston gave her an encouraging grin in notice of her immature behavior. He approved. Lora was embarrassed, but appreciated Winston's support.

Lora unlocked the apartment, and Mitch made sure to push his way through before anyone else.

Winston placed a hand on her shoulder before she could protest to Mitch's antics. "Just let him sniff around for a moment, he's better at it than he looks- especially if left alone."

"I thought that was your job, aren't you the one interested in this kind of thing?" Lora asks in suspicion.

Winston smiles. "Hmm, am I really? Maybe I'm not the only one here interested in paranormal trash, but I'm the only one who'll admit to it."

Lora stay quiet for a moment. "Why are you here if he doesn't need you for this?"

"He needs me sometimes, I'm not that useless," Winston says, laughing. "But we each have our own reasons, don't we?"

Lora nods, deciding not to over-think anything that was said for now, even if she still thought there was something more to it. "Sure," she says.

Winston watches her for a moment, humming thoughtfully, before looking away again.

Lora takes in a deep breath, not the most comfortable in the apartment at all. "Should I make some, ah, tea? Or coffee?" she asked, stepping in towards the kitchen.

"Tea sounds lovely," Winston called from the other room.

Being able to distract herself with her hands was a welcome thing right then.

She brought out two cups of tea, handing one to Winston when she returned to the living room.

She sat down, but Winston seemed set on standing.

"I feel useless just sitting here," she muttered.

"That's why I'm standing," Winston replied in an amused tone.

"...You know, you guys must be really desperate for information if you're agreeing to help me even though I don't even have any proof," Lora says quietly. "Other than intuition, that is. You're basically catering to the needs of a mourning woman."

"Is there something wrong with that?" Winston asks.

"Excuse me?"

"Even if you're just in shock and unwilling to let go of your brother, or believe a human is capable of this sort of murder," Winston starts to explain. "Helping you still seems like the right thing to do. If we can help you get answers and understand what exactly happened to your brother, then I don't think it's a waste."

Lora couldn't say she expected that answer. Winston seemed to be a good person, and it felt a little reassuring just having him there. Mitch, she wasn't certain about. "Does Mitch share your feelings about this?"

"Mitch is desperate, you were right about that. This Eyeless Jack that he's chasing is very good at covering his tracks. Smart. Calculating." Winston sounds as though he has his own fascination with the monster. "The way he behaves- he seems to contradict his own actions at times. I find it very interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing him for myself, see if a few of my theories are right."

The way he speaks about this kind of thing is different than the way he talks about other things, Lora noted. He really is an 'expert'.

"You two must have to check up on a lot of leads," Lora speculated.

"Eyeless Jack specific, no- the time between incidents is long and people don't always speak up. It isn't usually this violent." Winston chuckles. "And by people don't always speak up, I mean cases involving him are probably suspected to be black market crimes, not supernatural."

Lora had read up her share of supernatural stories online, but she hadn't really gotten these sorts of details. "That... that does make sense, doesn't it? I didn't think about it, but it makes sense."

"You must've thought it made some sort of sense, though, didn't you? Otherwise you wouldn't have jumped to this. There are hundreds of other horror stories about creatures eating people alive, yet you picked one of them and stuck with it."

"Maybe, but most of those 'hundreds of other horror stories' were just made to scare people," Lora said slowly. "I looked for large groups of scared people who had matching recollections of incidents, and ones who might've not believed in these things before. And in that, I looked for something that matched what happened to my brother."

Winston stared at her with wide eyes for a few moments before a grin appeared on his face. "We're only 'catering to the needs of a mourning woman', you say- Ha!" he says cheerily. "Now you've got me feeling excited! Maybe this visit will turn up something interesting after all. If not, you've been enjoyable on your own and that makes it worthwhile."

Lora's cheeks heat in embarrassment. "...Hm. If you say so."

There is a small pause.

"You know, not to be insensitive... but you don't appear very miserable on the outside," Winston says slowly, tilting his head. "Are you tearing yourself up inside with what's happened to your brother?"

"Something like that," Lora says with a sigh. "I suppose I'm just... I still don't really believe any of it. That body, insides all ripped up- it didn't seem like it was my brother anymore. Just empty, nothing there." Why was she even saying all of this? She'd been keeping herself together so far, but that was just barely. She couldn't let herself go so soon, let the pain get to her. She still had to find out what really happened to her brother. So they could both rest peacefully. She couldn't break.

"You're shaking," Winston said in a soft tone. "May I sit with you?"

"Am I?" Lora asked in surprise, lifting up her hands and watching them moving without her permission. "Oh. Looks like I am."

Winston sat down next to her on the couch. "That's fine."

"Ugh, I just need a moment, I'm sorry," Lora said, frustrated with herself. "I don't know why I started-"

"That's fine, I said," Winston repeats, hesitating for a moment before setting a hand on her shoulder. "We're going to find out what happened."

Lora watched her own hands until they stopped shaking. She felt the warmth of Winston's hand on her shoulder- it was careful, trying not to overstep boundaries, but reassuring. "I know."

In this kind of situation, putting immediate trust in strangers was somehow much less strange than everything else.

Mitch stalked back into the living room a few moments later. "You two. Cherry and Creep. I think you'll want to see this."

Lora bit back a complaint for the sudden rude nicknames, too interested in whatever there was to be seen and not wishing to provoke Mitch. She stood up and followed him.

Winston didn't react to the name calling, either used to it or completely indifferent to insults. Perhaps both. He took the time to gulp down the last of his tea before answering to Mitch's requests of presence.

Lora appeared to be the only one outwardly showing signs of discomfort with squeezing into the _bathroom_ of all places witness the discovery, but she did have to admit that the location made her more curious about what had been found.

The sink was covered in utterly disgusting looking (and possibly smelling? Lora wouldn't know) black sludge.

Lora made a choked sound in reaction. Winston didn't look too surprised or unsettled by their first clue (much to Mitch's disappointment, according to a look he was now giving his tag along).

Lora spoke first. "Why is that in my sink? That definitely wasn't there earlier," she said woozily.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong," Mitch said with a smirk. This was probably the best part of his day, being given the opportunity to act smarter than everyone else and shove it in their faces. "This disgusting stuff? Came out of this sink's drain. You're probably regretting not thinking more about your clogged up sink now, aren't you."

Winston's face reminded Lora if a child's when opening a Christmas gift. "I'll take samples."

"Damn straight you will," Mitch snorts.

"The sooner you get it out of my sink the better, thank you," Lora huffs.

She really had to wonder why it ended up in the sink drain in the first place.


	15. Wake up

AN; I think you'll enjoy this chapter. By the way, a crude question for you- if I were to make the rating more mature with a few sexual scenes, who's on top? I mean, I already know, but I'm curious as to what others would guess/expect.

Also, if I ever write something implying Jack has eyes, such as 'jack narrows his eyes' or 'jack blinks' please tell me, I make goofy mistakes sometimes and look everything over on my own. What does everyone want to see next chapter? Do tell me if you feel like it.

* * *

"Jack, wake up!"

And wake up he did. Jack woke up feeling deeply shaken. There was sweat all over his body and he was now sprawled out on the floor, looking up to his only friend in fear.

Jeff's expression mirrored his own. Fear.

How odd.

"Are you awake now?" Jeff asked him cautiously.

"I think so," Jack answered doubtfully, bringing a hand to his head. "Oh, I... why does it hurt?"

"You were having some sort of seizure," Jeff said quietly. "It looked unpleasant. I didn't know what to do."

Jeff didn't usually sound unsure of anything, either.

Jack smiled despite himself. Cute.

"I thought you couldn't sleep, what happened to that?" Jeff growled at him.

"Are you irritated because you're worried about me? You had to say 'wake up', too, I bet you must hate that," Jack grinned cheekily. "I'll be fine, I just-"

Jeff eyed him curiously. "Just what?"

"What did I... what did I see? I saw something," Jack said, clawing desperately around for memory in his head. "What the hell?" he hissed. "I just had it!"

"What're you talking about?" Jeff asked, sounding unhappy to be out of the loop. "And hey, wait a second, where'd you go last night? Where were you?"

"Oh," Jack said, looking over to Jeff again. "Well. I uh, you see-"

"Spit it out."

Jack sighed. "Give me a hand up first, please? I'm still on the floor, you know."

Jeff offered a hand.

Jack took the offered hand and pulled Jeff down with him.

It took Jeff a moment to figure out what just happened, but when he did he shot Jack a look of shock and accusation.

Jack grinned, and ruffled the other's hair.

Jeff didn't seem to take kindly to that, and tackled Jack.

Jack let out a gasp and tried to struggle out of it, although not really making much of an effort. Letting Jeff win seemed like the smarter thing to do at the moment. He was pinned down laying face first all sprawled out on the floor, which wasn't the most dignified or comfortable position, but he didn't mind very much.

In fact, Jack instead burst out laughing.

"Stop laughing, you asshole," Jeff growled.

Jack settled for smiling instead, and hoped, since he couldn't see the other at the moment, that Jeff didn't look too pissed off. He didn't need to be ignored and pouted at for hours again.

Jack squeaked in an unbecoming fashion when he felt warmth press into his back and arms curl around his waist. Tackling and growling he could predict. Hugs weren't things he was knowledgeable about, especially when you're on your stomach and on the floor. He didn't think that was how traditional hugs worked. "Jeff what's-"

"I hate you."

"Excuse me? Your current actions seem to contradict that statement," Jack said suspiciously.

"Shut up, I hate you! You made me feel weird, fuck you!" Jeff whined, squeezing him harder.

Jack frowned, trying to figure out the implications of that statement. He failed to do so. "What?"

"I was... bored," Jeff said.

"Wait a sec," Jack muttered. "Did you miss me?"

"What? How did you know that?" Jeff said, as if completely shocked that Jack figured it out.

Jack snickered. "Wow, hold on, if we're going to do some awkward friendship scene we'd better do it right." Jack squirmed away, then pulling Jeff and himself up into a standing position.

Jeff stared at Jack for a few moments before latching onto him again. This time, Jack was able to return it properly.

Which of course, caused Jack to grin like an idiot.

"Get that stupid grin off of your face," Jeff muttered.

"What are you talking about, you can't even see my face right now."

"You're still grinning. Stop."

"You first," Jeff replied, grinning even more.

Jeff made a frustrated noise, and looked up at Jack, glaring for a moment before pulling him down a little bit by his shirt. "Why're you so tall?" he growled.

"I couldn't say. What do you want me to do about it, get down on my knees?" Jack said cheerily, before freezing up and making a panicked noise. "Wait, wait no, that sounded... I take that back."

Jeff paused, staring at Jack thoughtfully. "Hmm."

"What kind of reaction is 'hmm'? What does that mean?" Jack whined. "Can we just agree that I never said that?" Jack asked, feeling his own face burning in embarrassment.

"No, we can't agree you never said that," Jeff disagreed. He looked like he was trying to look like this wasn't hilarious to him, but he was failing terribly.

"You're still hugging me and this is awkward now," Jack muttered, staring up at the ceiling.

"I thought it was always awkward," Jeff commented.

"Well we could fix that if you didn't refuse to ignore my accidentally sexual remarks-" Jack paused. "Wait. Fix. Didn't someone else 'fix' something?"

"I have no idea what you're mumbling about," Jeff sighed, nuzzling his face into Jack's neck.

Jack would've felt this seemed a little more than friendly if his mind was anywhere near there.

_"I'll fix you. Hold still."_

Jack started to cough and choke uncontrollably. He was getting really tired of that.

Jeff, surprisingly, was still holding onto Jack. It was a rather nice change from his usual fits done in panic and loneliness. Having a pressing warmth there felt like it was holding him down and stopping something from going too far.

Jack was breathing in a very quick and panicky way. This time he had to think about the memory, not just block it out due to the disturbing things in it. Everything seemed to ache and his body was practically screaming at him, even though he logically knew that the pain was in the past and not the present. Nobody was ripping his eyes from his head today. His body didn't seem to be collaborating with his brain right now, however.

"You're safe," Jeff whispered into his ear.

Jack froze for a moment before his body sagged, and he leaned into the other for support. He was still trembling a little bit, but the bad part seemed to have passed. "I think I did something bad, Jeff."

_"You're the one who started all of this in the first place, after all."_

"...How bad?" Jeff muttered.

"Really bad," Jack said dryly.

And then Jack told Jeff everything.


	16. Why is it always hospitals?

AN; A small snippet of spooky hospital adventures with past Jack. Spooky.

I also didn't even realize the last chapter could be thought of as a cliffhanger, there isn't any particular conspiracy behind telling Jack telling Jeff everything. Or should there be? Hm.

To the guest who thought I might've given up on the story before seeing I updated yesterday- imagine a laugh track, because I don't think I could even try to do that. I'm trying to update more regularly, so you're in luck. Even if I left this story alone for months I'd probably still get back to it anyway. I'm pleased you like that I'm developing Jack, as well, since I still feel a bit shy over making up almost everything with Jack. (even though the original story gave me most ideas, since Jack's actions weren't matching up there and made me think he had some interesting morals and a code of sorts, even if getting out of control sometimes. Plot holes in crappy stories are great because it gives me detailed ideas for explanations.)

To the people who only read the fluff and shipping things in this story and skip out on the plot- You're missing out and I feel sorry for you- but have fun nonetheless. (This chapter won't be for you guys, though, I'm afraid.)

I need practice, but I really like writing horror. And having characters be terrified and guilty. So this is pretty self indulgent.

* * *

Jack's vision cleared slowly, and he was still for a moment as it did so, before letting out a deep sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god, that was a dream. I can see just fine," He brought a hand up to his face to confirm that, smiling at the happy hospital atmosphere.

He got up from the hospital bed, saying hello to a nearby nurse.

_That nurse doesn't have a face._

Jack shook his head to himself. His vision just hadn't cleared up completely yet, it was just a bit blurry.

_Wake up._

The nurse turned and spoke to him in a combination of voices, mashed together in a very inhuman, ugly way. "_Fool._"

Jack 'woke up' and stared at the broken, empty scene of the hospital room around him.

The real one this time.

Jack snapped his hands up again to check his eyes. His fingers fell through into his empty eye sockets. A normal person would've wondered why they could even see with their eyes pulled out, but Jack already knew that bit. He'd rather he didn't, of course.

Jack let out a choked sound of terror and curled his arms around himself, absently pulling at his disgusting, bloodied clothes. "Fuck," he whimpered.

Jack cursed excessively for the next few minutes, shed a few tears, and made some cruel remarks to himself about what kind of person he was.

Jack thought about his family. Their faces were blurred in his mind. He thought about the blurred smile of a liar who had stolen his eyes, and clawed at his own skin uncontrollably in a spark of rage and fear of that person.

If it really was a person.

And then he left the room and started walking, because really, at this point anything was better than being in that room drowning in a combination of self pity and hatred.

"There's a saying," he muttered. "Too good to be true. Everything was exactly that."

There was sounds of stumbling and struggling from one of the hospital rooms, then screaming.

Jack stopped walking.

The screaming stopped as well.

Jack frowns, staring at the door to the room. He later recognized this as a 'stupid horror movie character' choice.

Because when the screaming stops it doesn't mean it's over, it means you're next and you lost your lucky chance to keep whatever murderous thing is around distracted.

There was a loud banging noise as something seemed to throw itself at the door, and then the action was repeated. _Bang, bang, bang... _a sickening pattern to remind one that when the sound stopped it wouldn't be a relief at all.

Jack narrowed his eyes as the pure feeling of 'fuck my life' overtook him. "Why is it always hospitals, anyway?" he muttered.

The door made a cracking noise.

Jack paused to consider his previous question. "Probably because of the stupid things guys like me do in hospitals. That's the answer to anything like this, really."

Jack laughed a very unhappy, bitter laugh.


	17. I'll give you a treat

AN; More past adventures in which Jack meets an obligatory animal sidekick. I might edit this a bit later.

* * *

A mutated animal surveyed the hallway, blood soaking its maw from a recent encounter with a weak human woman. It had smashed through the room's door to find more food, smelling another creature outside.

It spotted a figure, excitement of the hunt quickly building up again.

It was half its size, human appearing, an easy pick.

The creature tilted its head, growling at the human shaped being.

It didn't smell like a human, and all of the creature's instincts were telling him to back away and leave it alone.

This one was much more dangerous than anything it had tried to eat before, even his own kind. Being more animalistic, this creature put its own stronger hunger before any morals and didn't mind cannibalism of sorts. It had eaten smaller weaker creatures that reminded it of itself a few times.

This humanoid one sharing a strength and hunger like the creature's own was not prey at all, but a hunter.

* * *

"Jesus," Jack said blankly. "You're that... fuck, what the hell is wrong with me," he whimpered.

The giant creature in front of him whined.

"You were a dog once," Jack muttered. "Experimentation on animals- why did I ever agree to that, or any of it? Once everything went in this direction, it wasn't what I wanted anymore. I was... a fool."

Jack stared at the creature solemnly for a few moments before he felt something at his empty eyes. He brought a hand up to check, and there was some sort of slimy liquid. He looked at his fingers, examining the dark slime covering them.

Jack looked back to the 'dog'. "I am so, so sorry, oh god," he mumbled. "I don't know where it all went wrong. Maybe from the very beginning. I was only trying to help, but I got selfish. I don't know why. I don't know, good lord, I don't know..."

Jack stopped, rubbed at his cheeks, and beckoned the creature over. "C'mere."

It didn't listen to him.

"Come here boy, c'mon," Jack said shakily, rubbing at his own cheeks again to try to rid them of the black substance. "Please? I'll give you a treat."

Something in the creature seemed to still recognize that word, and it slowly walked over. It was just as tall as Jack was.

Jack delicately rested his hand on the creature's head, examining it a little more closely.

It had a large mouth with far too many teeth stuck into it, much smaller ears that didn't seem to grow along with the rest of it, a bulky body, wider and larger claws, and around eight spider like eyes- which all seemed to blink at different times.

Jack wondered if it might let him borrow one of its eyes, since there seemed to be plenty to spare. He almost smiled at the thought. "You aren't, uh..." Jack looked at the creature's blood soaked muzzle in uncertainty. "You aren't that bad off... I mean, you're a rather handsome giant monster if I ignore the fact that you probably just ate someone," he said weakly, patting the creature carefully to avoid the eyes. "I don't really remember your name, you know, but maybe you never had one," Jack sighed. "Spider might be fitting. I wonder why you aren't attacking me."

Jack wondered if it was inappropriate to name a giant monster. But then again, it rather deserved a name after what it went to.

"Christ, how could I ever make up for all of this," Jack muttered. He stood still for a few minutes before the realization hit him hard.

"That's it," He said slowly. "I have to destroy my research papers and any remaining parts of the cure. I can still stop this."

Spider didn't understand a word of any of this other than 'treat', and was still waiting for said treat.


	18. A real supernatural problem

AN; I like these guys. A lot. By the way, most any character that shows up that isn't dead for sure will show up again. I can't do side characters that only show up once, everyone is important. Also, I have a real solid idea of a plot lately, so that's really great. Extra chapters because I feel like it and I might not update tomorrow. I've been updating for a few days straight or something though, I swear. If you see any typos, point them out so I can fix them. I get very angry over typos.

* * *

"I didn't expect you to be able to do this kind of stuff, Winston, are you a scientist?" Lora said quietly. Watching him work was fascinating.

Winston smiled. "Something like that. Used to work in a proper lab, too. The skills come in handy for what I do now."

"I'd bet he was fired for being obsessed with 'what he does now'," Mitch commented.

"Wouldn't you love to know," Winston replied. He hadn't looked up once from what he was doing yet since he sat down. "Too bad I'll never tell you," he finished cheerfully.

Lora was curious now too, admittedly, but she wouldn't say so out loud. "Find out anything?"

"I really would like to get it checked out properly, but for now what I can pick up is that it definitely isn't natural to the habitat of your sink's drain," Winston said, turning to grin up at her, eyes lighting up. "Looks like you've got a real supernatural problem here."

Mitch moved over to the other two, eyes widening. "Are you absolutely certain of this?"

"Of course I am," Winston said. "Pleased?"

Mitch frowned, but it was without any irritation this time. "...I suppose." he looked over to Lora, staring at her with an unreadable expression. Maybe he was waiting for a reaction.

Lora wanted to give him something to work with, but she wasn't exactly happy either. Mitch's brother was also dead, so she wondered if he was ever really happy about anything.

Maybe he felt the same way she did. That it was good that they were making progress, but not happy.

Winston was the only happy one, but he hadn't lost anything. It didn't feel like he should be happy either, treat dealing with monsters like a game, but she was sure he didn't mean any harm by it. Perhaps a cheery disposition was how he dealt with this kind of thing.

Lora and Mitch shared a look for the first time.

Mitch sighed, and gave Winston a pat on the back. "Good work, Blair. You too, Che-" he coughed. "Ms. Fisher. Thank you for letting me tear through your apartment, that was very helpful." Mitch held his hand out to her when he finished.

Lora looked at Mitch in surprise for a few moments, before becoming embarrassed for freezing and shaking his hand. "No, thank _you_. It was no problem, really."

Maybe Mitch wasn't as terrible as she thought, but was just having a bad day. Or a bad life.

"We should be going, I think you've been bothered enough for today, and you'll want some time to think about all of this," Mitch said. "Winston will get that stuff checked out, too."

"Will you contact me if you find out anything?" Lora asked.

Mitch paused. "Yes. The same goes to you. If anything happens, call us first. He might show up again, but you're lucky you weren't around the first time."

Mitch then turned and walked out the front door.

Winston finished packing his tools up (Lora couldn't tell you what they were, not specifically), and he started writing something down on a slip of paper.

"What's this?" Lora asked as he handed it over to her.

"My email and phone number," Winston clarified. "Mitch did say to call 'us', didn't he?" Winston leaned in a little closer. "You should call me first, though. And if you need to talk about what happened with someone who believes all the details..." he tapped the piece of paper and smiled. "Here's your solution."

Lora blinked. "Goodnight, Winston. Say goodbye to Mitch for me, if he's still there. Do you need my phone number?"

"Sure, we did come here in my car after all, Mitch is a terrible driver," Winston said, giving her a quick one armed hug, as he was carrying his things with the other arm. "And no, I can just badger Mitch for that. Or steal it off of his phone."

Lora laughed and followed him to the door. "Don't get caught if you end up stealing it."

"Don't underestimate me," Winston said with a grin.

"I won't," Lora said.

Winston turned around right when she was about to close the door, catching it with a hand. He looked at her for a moment before speaking. "Be careful." And then he shut the door.

Lora frowned at the door for a minute. "You too," she said quietly.

It was nice of them to let her rest and think things over, but really, she didn't want to be alone.


	19. Wendy

AN; Character development. Hi.

* * *

Lora smiled softly as she approached a humble looking man, but the smile wasn't for him.

It was for the child peeking out from behind his legs.

Lora crouched down and opened her arms. "Wendy!"

The little girl's eyes lit up, and she leaped into the woman's arms. "Mommy!" She crowed.

Lora held her daughter tight for a few moments before letting her go, standing up again.

"Do you want to go play, Wendy?" The man asked, leaning down to smile at the girl.

She nodded excitedly, running off in the direction of the playground and leaving the two adults trailing after her.

"Brian," Lora said finally in acknowledgment to the other.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Brian said slowly. "Are you sure you're emotionally ready to be going out like this?"

Lora gave him a dark look. "I will always be 'emotionally ready' to see my daughter. I only get to see her once a week or less, I would never give that up."

"I see. You should know why I'd think otherwise," Brian said neutrally.

"I may have been involved with bad things against my will, but I never brought her into it and it never affected my parenting," Lora said stonily. "We've talked about this many times, and I will always say the same things to you, even if you don't trust me."

"You broke that trust a long time ago."

"You know I'd never do anything to hurt her, even if I hurt you! You knew taking her away would hurt me the most!"

"If you could lie about how you felt for me, you could have lied about anything."

Lora's heart sank. He could accuse her of anything he wanted to, anything except that she somehow couldn't love her daughter. "I just want to spend time with my daughter. Please don't talk to me like this today."

Her ex-husband frowned, and his voice softened. "Go, then."

He still felt betrayed. They still started arguing every time they saw each-other.

He tried to understand sometimes, but their life experiences were just too different. His life had been led with normal parents who had decent morals and gently scolded you when you didn't get home on time.

Lora's life before him, and more importantly her daughter hadn't been so white picket fence.

* * *

"Dad says Uncle Frank had an accident," Wendy said in the most solemn tone a six year old could use. It wasn't as though she wasn't genuinely sad, it was just a bit unusual for a kid with such a shining amount of happiness and childish optimism to be heard using that tone.

"That's right, sweetheart," Lora confirmed slowly. She was glad nobody had given her daughter any more details. "Uncle Frank had an accident, and it's very sad, but he's resting peacefully now." Not quite, but she was working on that.

"I'm sorry mom," Wendy said with large, kitten like eyes. "Does that mean you don't have a place to live? You should come live with me and daddy again! Aren't you done 'working' yet? Can't you come back?"

Lora bit her lip and felt her hands threaten to start shaking again. She reached over to pull her daughter into another tight hug. "Oh darling. There isn't anything I want to do more, but I'm not done 'working' yet. I am so, so sorry"

"It's okay, mom. I miss you, but I know you're working for me."

"I miss you too."

* * *

Lora watched and waved when her daughter left with her father a few hours later, a fake grin plastered on her face- to pretend it didn't hurt her to have to let her daughter go. Sometimes they spent the whole day together, but others it didn't last as long as Lora might desperately wish. She'd truly give anything to be able to have her daughter again, even part time.

But like this it was always so terrifying. If her ex-husband wanted to, he could cancel any time she had to see Wendy. She could only see her when he let her.

Lora was sick of others taking away the things she loved.

Lora checked her cell phone.

One missed call from Mitch.

Lora called Mitch back. "I just saw that you called. What's going on?"

"Something came up. You free now?"

Lora stared off to where her and her daughter had sat. "Of course, always."

"I thought you might've been busy."

"Not anymore."

"I'll send you an address, then."

"Thank you."


	20. Connect the dots

AN; Don't take Jeff along when you're trying to do important things.

Jeff makes Jack uncomfortable and messes with his head yet again.

* * *

"It's raining," Jeff complained.

"Oh yes, I've noticed," Jack said. "Perhaps you should switch your hoodie for a raincoat." Or any kind of clothing other than the goddamned hoodie, for once.

"No way, the hoodie is already my thing! Why don't you change _your_ hoodie?"

"Because I don't mind the rain, Jeff. Is the scary murderer afraid of a little rain? Or maybe you're just afraid of baths?" Jack snickered, helping Jeff climb up a slippery ledge. "You don't get complaining rights, you're the one who begged to come along. And I do wear things other than hoodies sometimes, you know."

"I wouldn't mind the rain if I was inside," Jeff muttered. "Sneaking around trying to stab things while dripping goddamn rain water everywhere doesn't really help me to intimidate anyone."

"They might have you mop up the puddles before being able to kill them. Jeff the killer- you'll die laughing at him. Has a nice ring to it," Jack said, patting Jeff reassuringly. "We're not going to be stabbing anyone today, so you don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself. You're out with me, so you have to listen to my rules."

"Laughing to death sounds pretty gruesome," Jeff said with a grin.

Jack flashed him a disgusted look. "Not quite what I meant, but of course you'd think of it that way."

"I'm climbing around on roofs in the rain for you, you'd better appreciate that," Jeff grumbled.

"It's not as if anyone can see you looking this ridiculous other than me, but thank you, I do appreciate it," Jack said sweetly, sliding an arm around Jeff's shoulders and nuzzling his hair.

Jeff growled, shoving him off. "Hey, don't put your arm around me, I'm not the girl in this relationship."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? What's _that_ implying, Mr. High and mighty?"

Jeff shrugged. "I dunno."

Jack glared at the other. Classic teenager avoidance trick, saying you don't know when you almost always do and are either too lazy or don't want to give an answer. "Then why'd you say it?"

"I don't know," Jeff said in a slow mocking way, smirking at the other.

"If there was a 'relationship', I don't know why anyone would have to be the 'girl'-" Jack's face flushed and he made an angry sound when he caught on a little late. "_Wait_, do I really seem like I'd..." Jack swore under his breath and glared at the other. "_Really?_"

What a weird conversation to have while traveling by rooftop.

Jeff started snickering, which soon couldn't be held back from becoming full blown laughter.

_Oh the hilarity,_ Jack thought to himself grumpily.

"You really want me to answer that?" Jeff asked in an amused tone.

That was a good question.

"Maybe I do, would you really miss the chance to mock me?" Jack said. "I'm curious, and you apparently have a dirty mind."

Jeff tilted his head curiously, still smirking. "I'm usually stuck in a house alone all day, other than the one person I've been able to interact with without killing for years. Of course I'd naturally think of a few things," Jeff said nonchalantly. "Not to mention I'm still a teenager, and male- you can connect the dots."

Jack stiffened, his body heating up significantly. Perhaps the rain would help with that.

Was what Jeff said a serious answer? Jack's mind was desperately trying to process the information properly.

"Oh," Jack said simply, the pitch of his voice getting higher. "Is that so?" If Jeff was teasing him, he'd likely burst out laughing at Jack for falling for it.

Jeff didn't laugh. "It's pretty normal with the situation, isn't it?"

Jack frowned, trying to depersonalize it to have it make more sense. "I suppose so, yes. Perfectly normal, especially for someone your age."

"So you're okay with it, then?" Jeff asked cheerfully. He really didn't sound that worried over if Jack was okay with it or not.

Jack mentally groaned. "Uh... yeah. No issues here."

"It's hard not to think of you in that way when you seem to always accidentally say thought provoking things- like getting down on your knees," Jeff said thoughtfully.

"You actually thought about that?" Jack squeaked.

Jeff almost looked insulted. "Of course I did, who wouldn't?"

"Plenty of people!" Jack whined.

"Your voice sounds interesting," Jeff commented.

"You just informed me you were sexually attracted to me, so that's not surprising," Jack muttered. "Now I'll have to pretend to not notice you checking me out."

"You didn't notice well enough before, although I thought I was being pretty obvious," Jeff said, snorting. "Not that you need to pretend you don't notice," he added suggestively.

"Uh," Jack said quietly, trying to be a reasonable adult. "Right, noted."

Teenagers were scary.

Jack had kind of scared himself a bit, too, since he almost accepted the offer. Then again, he didn't laugh and say it wasn't going to happen either. He'd like to say it was just him being polite, but he wasn't. Jeff was correct on his point that they were both living alone with the only people they'd been able to interact with without hurting in a long time.

Jack decided right then was a good time to hide away his face behind his mask again.

"So, what... do you have fantasies with me in them or something?" Jack found himself asking, even though he really wanted to drop the topic completely.

"You're thinking about it now, aren't you?" Jeff said, sounding very, very smug.

Jack decided not to give Jeff the pleasure of an answer. He really just wanted to take a cold shower right about now.

The rain would have to do, as they really did have something they had to do today.


	21. An odd personal reaction

AN; I really would like to have Mitch in more conversations, but he just keeps stomping off. He doesn't enjoy crowds. Yes, he probably thinks of two other people as a crowd. At this rate I'll have to force him into things, since he's probably supposed to be a main character. Oh Mitch.

* * *

Lora knocked lightly on the front door of the location she was given. She had drove out to a small, pleasant looking light blue two story house. It had larger distance from any neighbors than the houses closer to the city. Someone valued privacy, it seemed.

A ruffled looking (perhaps more than usual, but it was difficult to tell) Mitch opened the door.

"Hello Mitch, is this your house?" Lora greeted.

"Hi," Mitch replied. "It's Blair's house- blue isn't my color."

Lora wasn't sure Mitch had a color, but she nodded, and entered the house.

Everything looked rather new and clean.

"Lora, come over here, would you?" Winston called, beckoning her over to the dining room table- which unlike everything else, was messy and covered with folders, documents and other things.

Lora made her way over, taking a chair. "I hope this is legal," she commented, eyeing the papers.

"I've asked him if things were legal before, but I never get an answer," Mitch said, peering in briefly to give a disapproving look from the other room, disappearing again to do who knows what. Mitch things. He probably already knew whatever she was about to be told.

"I'm glad you could make it," Winston said cheerily, ignoring the questioning of whether his activities were within the restrictions of the law or not. "Your hair is down today. You look good."

"Thank you. I had something earlier I wanted to look nice for," Lora replied quietly. "You have a very nice house. Do you live out here all on your own?"

"Mitch stays over sometimes, but he lives with his parents or out of cheap motels most of the time," Winston answered jokingly.

Lora briefly wondered if Mitch did anything for a living, or if he just liked to chase after monsters. She didn't know if Winston did anything other than this either- she'd have to ask later. "Sounds a little lonely- I've never lived on my own until now."

"Sure, but it gives me room to focus on what I want," Winston said, watching her curiously. "It's interesting that you've never lived alone before, though. I'm the opposite." He smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "Speaking of focusing, I just remembered I needed to fill you in on what's been found out."

"Please do."

"The black slime found at both 'brother incidents' are a match," Winston began. "So it's confirmed that you have Eyeless Jack specifically. You have good intuition, you know."

_I've had to,_ Lora thought. She shifted in discomfort at the thought that this was still all real and actually happening.

"And I've also been doing some research," Winston said in a sudden serious tone. "I've got a theory. It's a little odd, but I thought you might want to hear it- since it's one of our only ideas on where to go from here. "

"Go on," Lora encouraged him.

"Take a look at this," Winston said as he handed her a paper.

It had her brother's information on it.

"What does this have to do with my brother?" Lora questioned a little defensively.

"Possibly everything," Winston said slowly. "I'm seeing a pattern with the victims. Your brother fits into it."

"What does he fit in to, then?" Lora asked suspiciously, feeling a little uncomfortable at the mention of her brother, but still very curious.

Winston placed a hand on her arm. "Well," he said lightly. "Your brother once worked at a hospital, yes?"

Lora frowned. "He did. He loved that job, but he left because something happened. He never told me what exactly, and I didn't pry for information." It had almost seemed like it had drained all of his energy one day and he just couldn't do it anymore.

"He wasn't the only one to quit from that place. A few people or more did so all around the same time."

"You're saying they might've known something?"

"Might've? They still do, they aren't all dead," Winston said, his voice suddenly sounding a bit panicky. "At least, they aren't yet."

"Are you suggesting... that we find them first?" Lora asked slowly. This was seeming a lot bigger than it did yesterday.

"That is _exactly_ what I say we do," Winston said firmly.

Lora was mostly on board with this idea.

Winston seemed strangely passionate about it.

"How does Mitch feel about this?" Lora asked.

"Doesn't matter. How do _you_ feel about it?"

"I'll help as much as I can, but it does matter," Lora said. "Are you okay, Winston?"

Winston stared at her for a moment.

Winston's eyes were a very interesting shade of blue, Lora noted for no particular reason. Perhaps she'd just started to connect the color blue to Winston in various ways due to Mitch's comment.

Winston sighed and slumped back against his chair. "I apologize, I got a little too... I've just never- _we've_ never gotten this close, not with Jack."

"That's fine, you have reason to be..." What exactly was he feeling?

"Exhilarated," Winston breathed, answering her unspoken question. "And angry. That's what I feel."

He laughed a bit to himself after that.

Lora watched him carefully, a small frown on her face.

They still had many pieces of a puzzle to put together, but Winston was looking like a bit of a puzzle himself.

She knew why she and Mitch were here, but there was something missing with Winston. He was having an odd personal reaction that didn't just come with going along with a random job.

Something was different, and it was far too soon to be able to tell what.

"So, you're still helping, then?" Winston challenged.

"Do you have any tea?" Lora asked, deciding to go along with things again in the form of asking a relaxed, casual question implying she'd be there a while to drink it. _I'll give in- for now._

"I've already made some," Winston said with a smirk, reading the unspoken agreement in her words.


	22. Flesh and bones

AN; This is your official warning that this story has a lot more planned for it than just gay fluff and a few people dying. I also keep having to tell myself this is my fanfic and that if people can enjoy fanfics with ridiculous original characters being paired up with psychopaths, they can manage to enjoy this stuff. If you actually do enjoy this stuff, tell me, but if not, you're just going to have to live with it.

This chapter includes obligatory cryptic bullshit. And the return of a character you might not have expected to return.

I'm really quite happy with this chapter.

Remember to review- I didn't get many last time (specifically, I got one). You don't have to, but it certainly helps keep me going with this.

* * *

A quiet hum of machinery could be heard, but all that could be seen was a void of emptiness.

Lora stared out into the endless white world, contemplating it.

She'd never felt so in control in a dream, so this couldn't be normal.

Then again, what was ever normal anymore?

A figure appeared in front of her, and it almost felt like it had been there all along. Almost, because it struck her that the feeling wasn't quite her own, but instead placed in her head. A small manipulation that would work more easily on much more absent minds.

Lora examined the new addition to the void. They were shaped in a feminine way, but somehow seemed more androgynous. Dressed in an all white clothes- suit, gloves, shoes, and a blank mask to match. The only other color was in the hair, but that was black, in a short and simple haircut, although long enough to cover the ears and any other signs of skin.

The theme seemed to be some form of simplicity. A blankness to go along with the rest of this place.

Lora didn't like being somewhere like this, it was draining.

And yet, she still had to make a good first impression.

"Hello," Lora said simply.

A brief amount of time passed.

Then, they spoke. A slur of different voices spoke together as one. "_One with manners. Very nice._"

It sounded alien and unnatural, but Lora appreciated the fact that it sounded like it had a bit of personality to it.

And that it wasn't trying to kill her. She'd had dreams with creatures, ones who would rip at her flesh, tearing into her stomach and eating her insides. It was a nice change from how those dreams went.

Lora usually kept calm in dreams. Even if she couldn't control everything, she had a certain recognition that she was in a dream, and not a reality. Reacting to it would only hurt her, which was unnecessary with things that weren't actually happening. No matter how upsetting, it wasn't real. She'd repeat that to herself a lot.

She had been silent and neutral when the dreams started coming to her. Frozen in place and unable to defend herself as monsters came to eat parts of her alive, leaving her to simply watch it happen.

She stayed calm most of the time. The rare others, she simply broke down in a mess of crying and shaking that stayed with her when she woke up again.

Calling them nightmares would probably be more accurate, but that would be admitting that they terrified her.

Hopefully this dream wouldn't end up like that.

"It's as should be expected when first meeting someone," Lora said with a small nod. "Is there something you'd like to speak to me about?"

"_Yes, and you're making this much easier to do,_" They hissed. "_I'll be courteous in return- a gift for your cooperation._"

Sounds like someone else didn't think fast enough when presented with this situation. Lora was confused, of course, but fuss would hardly get her anywhere in a place she was so unfamiliar with. Unless threatened, she would act as a guest.

"I'm listening," Lora said calmly.

"_You've been forced into a dangerous situation, but you have accepted it- and even created purpose for yourself. You are able to handle yourself, already having been broken before and yet still hanging on to life,_" They spoke. "_However, I am not here to compliment you, I am here to send a message. I've said those things only to express I have hopes that you will not fail in a most permanent way, and that you should remember that._"

Lora didn't remember to breath for a few moments while taking in what had been said.

Failing in a most permanent way was certainly a polite way to speak of dying a violent, disturbing death.

The being went on. "_You are currently the noble criminal, an interesting and promising addition to the game. And yet, I must tell you this: you do have the chance to be more, but in the state you are now... presented with what the future has in store, if you stay like this you'll be eaten alive. You'll need to find ways to defend yourself. Weak human flesh and bones will cause you to rot._"

Lora felt an ache in her head.

These things were things she'd considered already on her own.

When heard from someone else it hit her much harder, however.

Lora found the will to say as much, too. "I know all of that, but I needed a reminder. Thank you."

The creature laughed, and it sounded demented when doing so. "_I enjoy your attitude. I feel sorry for you, and I'll apologize now for the fact that I'll be giving you a cryptic prophecy of sorts._" Demented, but somehow charming. "_It'll make sense to you later, most likely. It might never make sense, but I didn't make the rules. It isn't even a prophecy, more of a warning._"

If they didn't make the rules, who did?

Something about that thought made Lora very, very uncomfortable.

"_The noble criminal, truthful fool, dangerous dreamer, fallen doctor, and the one who is learning to care again. These are all the starting pieces in a high stakes game. Some roles must be changed, others kept going, but even small pushes will have large results. Friends and enemies will become one and the same before the self-centered story will open to the real one, which will endanger everything. Once that is realized, the question you have been wishing to ask since the moment you came into the void will be one of the most important parts of what will come._"

Lora remembered the thing she'd been wondering from the start of the dream, which didn't feel like a dream at all anymore. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "What is that sound?"

The hum of machinery had been there, quiet and yet digging its way into the back of her mind.

The being in the white suit faded, and everything else was fading away as well, but their many voices still whispered into her head.

"_The next time you hear it, you'll know that the real game has begun._"

Or, as Lora thought in a brief moment, the next time she heard it, she'll know that everyone was fucked.


	23. What is this world coming to?

AN; Wow, this chapter is really long. When I was writing it I thought it would be short! I'm not sure if I'm happy with it or not yet, I'll look at it again later. I apologize for taking so long to update, hopefully getting this chapter out of the way will help me get back to updating more quickly.

_Also_, some asshole reposted my fanfic on another site. I'm pretty fucking pissed off at the little asshole for it too. He'd better take it down- I'm feeling murderous right now.

He might've reposted other fics without permission, too, so I'm worried for other authors as well. I didn't check, but it's likely. Nightmare134 on a site called wattpad, I'm watching you. Doing that isn't fucking cool. I work hard on this stuff just to make my fans and myself happy. Don't do that. I work hard, and I have something to show for my effort. You don't get a free ticket to glory when you haven't earned it, buddy.

Alright, I'm done ranting, even if I'm still angry. Have a chapter. If there are mistakes I'll come back and edit them later. Remember to review, and thank you for reading, as always.

* * *

It was pouring down rain when Lora woke up. Not soft, nice sounding raindrops either, the heavy ruins your day kind.

She ached a little from sleeping on Winston's couch, but she was the one who insisted on it even after being offered a bed, so she couldn't complain.

She stared out the window in a haze for a few moments before remembering what had happened.

She blinked a few quick times to try and get any sleepiness away, and slipped off of the couch.

She had borrowed one of Winston's t-shirts for the night, as she knew how uncomfortable sleeping in all of her clothes could be- She could stand the couch, but not that.

She padded through the front room and was soon relieved that, by the sound of the one-sided argument from the dining room, her teammates were already awake.

"Good morning, Lora- have any interest in pancakes?" Winston called, giving her a bright smile.

Mitch looked extremely offended all of the sudden. "Did you listen to anything I just said?" He snapped at Winston.

"Sure I did," Winston replied dismissively and unconvincingly. He patted a seat next to him to invite Lora to sit down.

"Pancakes are fine, but I want to talk first," Lora said, taking the seat a little reluctantly.

"Good luck with that," Mitch scoffed.

"Don't even think about slinking off, Mitch, this conversation includes you as well," Lora said to Mitch a little threateningly, realising he was probably going to pull his usual move. She decided she really didn't like it when he did that.

Mitch tensed for a moment before giving a shrug, and nodding.

"I had an abnormal dream. The cryptic prophecy sort." Lora started.

"You had a dream? No no no-_ I_ had a dream-" Mitch began to protest.

"Looks like we've all had dreams," Winston said in an amused tone. "In Mitch's dream there was a lot of yelling. From him, of course- Mitch doesn't like confusing things, and a lot of things confuse him, so you can see how that goes. How about you, Lora?"

Mitch's eyes widened briefly when he came to the realization that Winston really had listened to what he had been saying, and he would've even been a little touched if not already constantly irritated. That was probably saying a lot. Although he also soon caught on to the fact that he was being insulted, and any signs of appreciation were gone.

Lora waited until Mitch looked slightly calm, and then began to explain her own dream in as much detail as she could manage, although taking out a few personal bits. She accepted a plate of pancakes when she was done speaking.

"Well the creepy person in the suit called me the 'truthful fool'- can I ask for a new stupid prophecy name, and without the stupid this time?" Mitch said begrudgingly.

"That takes away the whole purpose of a stupid prophecy name, Mitch," Winston replied cheerfully.

"I just blurted out my insulting title, which ones did you guys get? I'm not standing alone on this," Mitch said, narrowing his eyes.

"That's a secret," Winston said with a grin, putting a finger to his lips in a shushing motion.

"What're you talking about, secret- you got something to hide?" Mitch muttered.

"Noble criminal," Lora said quickly, not seeing any point in lying if asked directly. Admitting her 'title' would also distract Mitch from becoming even more irritable towards Winston.

"Fancy," Winston said in a vaguely approving manner.

Mitch looked uncomfortable with this new information. "Wait, what? How do you get a title like that?"

"Nothing she has to tell you, Mitch," Winston warned with a thin smile, taking on a more negative tone for the first time in the day. "Mind yourself."

"I think it's my right to know if someone I'm closely working with has a history of dangerous things, Blair," Mitch said defensively, narrowing his eyes.

"He has a point, really," Lora said with a slight shrug of the shoulders. "It's fine, it's already public information after all. I was blackmailed into working in organized crime for a while when I was younger, I escaped it for a while, and then I had to do it again briefly in the last few years. I'm not involved now and haven't been for some time, so you don't have to worry."

Mitch's face blanked. "Oh, I see." He looked like he was having inner conflict on if he should feel pity or suspicion. "It had better not cause any trouble for me- you got that, Fisher?"

Lora scoffed and nodded. "Got it, Mitch. Relax, I won't bite." _Not unless he's being an asshole and asking for it, at least,_ Lora added mentally.

Winston kept a mostly neutral reaction other than a small reassuring smile. "Good to know. Moving on?"

Lora gave a small 'thank you' smile to Winston for not trying to pry for information or giving her any weird looks. "Moving on, yes. What do you two think of this dream business?"

"It's weird voodoo bullshit, that's what I think. Someone is trying to manipulate us into doing strange rituals and shit like that," Mitch pitched in.

Winston frowned at him. "Where'd that come from? What does voodoo have to do with anything?"

"Creepy things are all connected, okay? I know what I'm talking about, I'm the truthful one, so I must be right!" Mitch argued.

"And you forget that you're also the fool," Winston said, narrowing his eyes. "I'm pretty sure we can cross 'weird voodoo bullshit' off the list, but nice try."

"What are you, the voodoo expert?" Mitch scoffed

"As a matter a fact, yes, I am," Winston replied with a sniff.

Mitch blinked and eyed Winston in a suspicious manner.

Lora frowned and shook her head at the childish arguing, trying to block the voices out so she could actually think a little bit. "He is right, though, everything does seem connected," she muttered to herself.

She cursed mentally, shaking her head. There were things missing, important things. They needed just a little bit more information.

Lora glanced at the papers of the hospital employees who quit around the same time as her brother, stopping with a sudden frown. "Winston, where's the rest of the information in these papers? Not everything is listed here, there are addresses and other things missing."

Winston opened his mouth without saying anything for a moment before putting his palm to his face and groaning. "Oh, that slipped my mind, I'm sorry. I didn't even think of mentioning it, although it's pretty important too, I suppose. Right, okay. Those papers are a little old so not everyone would be living in the same places, right? Not everything was listed on those anyway." He cleared his throat and looked off for a second. "I was having some difficulty finding all the information. I usually would've gotten more, but somebody covered this up- thoroughly. Maybe I'm just being paranoid and they never put everything online, but either way it isn't there."

Mitch rolled his eyes. "Just look whoever you need info on up on facebook. How much more easy could it be?"

"Thank you, Mitch, but I have in fact tried that," Winston said dryly. "I would explain to you how it didn't accomplish much, but I'm not going to waste my breath doing so."

"How was I supposed to know you'd tried it?" Mitch asked with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Boys," Lora began warningly. "I'd appreciate for someone to help me out by working rather than squabbling. We were talking about something?"

Winston shot Mitch one last look, but turned his attention to Lora again with a bright smile. "Of course. Ah, where was I?"

"Conspiracies messed up your information gathering. How do we fix that?"

Winston hummed thoughtfully. "Well I suppose there might be physical copies with more information. Getting things off of the internet is getting simpler and simpler these days, and occasionally it's less likely for things to be stolen if they're locked up and non digitally stored. It's a little funny how things are being flipped around like that, huh? More likely to get scammed online and lose all your money than robbed in real life now."

"I'm not sure you're right about that," Mitch said in slight uncertainty. "But I'm not sure you're wrong either. Is it more ambitious or less ambitious to scam people online rather than rob them normally?"

"Depends on your viewpoint of such things and how one does it, I suppose, and what 'normal' is considered," Winston said with a chuckle. "I hadn't really thought that far into it."

"You've thought about it enough, though," Mitch said begrudgingly.

"I can make good observations quickly at times, yes," Winston allowed.

"So, what'll we be doing?" Mitch asked, surprisingly putting the argument to rest himself this time. "About the 'physical copies', I mean- if they exist."

"I'll try and see if they exist, so don't get all frustrated," Winston said, opening his laptop. "And if they exist... well, I suppose we'll make up something to get them," Winston said, although Lora caught the doubt in his voice.

"That won't work," Lora said, shaking her head. "If someone has gone to the trouble of making them difficult to access, they'll notice if they're looked at. They'll go after whatever trail we leave, or more likely we wouldn't even get to look at them in the first place. And if the conspiracy theory isn't true, then it'll just take longer to get them anyway."

"If you have a better idea, feel free to share it," Winston said, looking thankful he didn't have to come up with something this time.

"I can use the skills acquired through my less desirable background to help you out," Lora says, eyes glinting. "If you're open to the idea."

Mitch frowned at her for a moment before catching on, a very distressed and angry look on his face. "You want to steal the papers? The ones that we don't know exist or contain the right information yet anyway?"

"They do exist, Mitch, I can confirm it now," Winston said suddenly, grinning.

"Christ, I let the shady internet information gathering thing go, but I don't think I can go along with_ this_!" Mitch growled.

"It wouldn't be stealing if we didn't take anything," Lora said, even though she didn't much like the idea herself. She hadn't even thought of doing something like this in a long time, and if she was caught it really wouldn't be pleasant for her.

Lora then took on a more serious look. "This is important, Mitch," She pleaded. "If we don't find these people and warn them, they could die. I don't want anyone else to feel the way we felt when we lost our family members to this. You don't even have to come, I could get the papers on my own."

Mitch stiffened, giving her a brief sad look before closing his eyes and turning away. He was quiet for a moment. "You know what, whatever. I'll go. Someone reasonable has to be there to keep you two from doing something idiotic, after all," He muttered.

Both Lora and Winston's faces lit up, and they gave eachother a look.

Lora stood up and couldn't help but give Mitch a hug from behind, causing him to squeak. "Thank you, Mitch," She said sweetly. "I'm very happy you're going to break into a building with us."

"I'm sure you'll make a wonderful babysitter," Winston said, chuckling.

"We've only known each other for a while, jeez, lay off the hugging," Mitch mumbled nervously, although he secretly did enjoy the companionship he was getting lately.

Both Mitch and Lora squeaked again when Winston joined in on the weird hug situation, almost suffocating the both of them.

"Jesus christ, Winston, you're not making this any better!" Mitch said, struggling. "Let go, you goddamn giant! Who gave you permission to be so strong? This isn't fair!"

Lora started laughing, covering her face with her hands.

Winston grinned. "No way. You two are adorable, I'm not missing out on the cuddly action. I like seeing Mitch's icy heart melted. Good job, Lora dear."

"I hate you. I hate you both," Mitch said weakly. "And we're apparently going to break into a building. What is this world coming to?"


	24. Probably

AN; A very short chapter as preparation for things getting more interesting. (I'm not too pleased with it, really.)

* * *

"You sure you want to go first?" Jeff asked in a sudden amused tone. "I heard you were a little clumsy once when sneaking into someone's house."

Jack shot him a glare. "That was one time, and I wasn't myself. I'm sure we could waste time arguing over who's a better sneak, but we both do know I have better senses. Therefore I'll be much better for scouting this place out and making sure it's safe."

"Safe? Of course it'll be safe, this is a place where they keep all the dull records and documents. The most you'll have to worry about is mice," Jeff said with a snort.

"Look, I'm not taking any chances," Jack said nervously, gently pulling up the skylight he was going to use to get into the building. "It's probably fine, yes, but I've learned not to trust 'probably' the hard way already. I'm checking it out, and you're waiting outside- that's just how it's going to be."

Jack then slipped through the opening, gently stepping down onto a desk, then to the floor.

The air smelled musty, and he wrinkled his nose in slight distaste.

Jack heard a small plop behind him, and the air was suddenly filled with dust. It was difficult not to cough.

Jack turned, clenching his fists at his sides. "Jeff!" he hissed. "I just told you to stay put! What part of 'you're waiting outside' didn't you understand?"

Jeff shook his head, smirking at the other as he slipped off of the desk. "You really thought I'd just stay there? I thought you were joking."

Jack took on a defeated look. "I'm not sure what I expected, really."

"Don't look so pitiful," Jeff said disapprovingly. "I'll let you go first, if you want."

"Thank you," Jack said dryly. "I'll take you up on that offer. We're being careful, okay? Careful. Quiet. No weird conversations or petty arguments, those have to wait."

"I'll look forward to the weird conversations and petty arguments when I'm allowed to speak again," Jeff commented.

"We're being careful," Jack repeated.

"No talking. Got it."

Jack sighed, gesturing for the other to follow behind him.

Trying to get Jeff not to do something was like trying to get a cat not to do something- it either doesn't work, or they got very irritated with you for trying to stop them. Cats also brought home the corpses of small animals and left them at your doorstep- Jeff seemed to do that sort of thing too.

Jack wondered how Jeff would react if informed that he was being compared to cats. He'd have to tell him about it later.

It was a mostly uneventful trip to go from the second floor to the first. Everything seemed to be going as planned- get in, take a look at a few old documents, and leave.

That is, it was uneventful until they got into a large room with several rows of desks.

Jack froze, turning back and catching Jeff by the sleeve of his hoodie. Jeff was about to open his mouth to question why they had paused like that, but Jack squeezed the other's arm tightly, giving him a wary look.

Jeff looked curious, but was quiet.

Jack didn't do anything for a few seconds, but then pulled Jeff under one of the many desks with him a brief moment later.

A door could be heard creaking open, then footsteps.

Something suddenly felt very familiar.


	25. Nostalgia

AN; There's some slight Winston and Lora fluff in this chapter, and also odd suspicious things. Interesting things are happening very soon.

Make sure you read the chapter before this one, as I'm posting them pretty close together and I'll remind you just in case, since it's important for making sense of the last bit.

Shrug.

* * *

"I don't know why I'm going through with this. If we're caught, I'm saying you two took me hostage," Mitch hissed under his breath.

"What if we all claim to be hostages at the same time?" Winston remarked. "Then your plan might not work as well."

"We're not going to be caught," Lora said with an exasperated sigh. "This place doesn't have any security at all. Not anything I can't handle, at least. There's no reason for you to even be quiet."

"I find that a little odd," Winston said, narrowing his eyes.

"Why?" Mitch asked. "Because of your conspiracy theory?

"Yes, because of that, but I suppose I could be wrong," Winston said doubtfully.

"I don't get why some hospital would put things about some employees who quit online anyway," Mitch sniffed.

"I wouldn't know, I'm not them," Winston said with a small shrug. "All I know is they put some, but not all of the information up."

"Which is why we're here," Lora reminded them. "So let's get to that, shall we? There's a few rooms to check, so I hope you guys don't mind splitting up."

"I do mind, actually," Mitch muttered. "Not that it matters."

Winston looked off for a moment, a distracted look on his face.

"Winston?" Lora said, frowning. "What's up?"

"Hmm?" Winston blinked, turning back to the small group. "Oh, I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

Lora eyed the other with an unreadable expression for a moment. "We're splitting up to search rooms," She finally said, gesturing towards the other side of the larger main room, where the smaller rooms crammed with forgotten documents were located.

"I can stand guard out here for a bit, if you'd like," Winston offered.

Lora crossed her arms. "I guess that could be helpful, even though I don't think we're in any danger," she agreed doubtfully.

"Well I do think we're in danger, so that'd actually be reassuring for me," Mitch admitted, approving of Winston's ideas for once. "I'm sure as hell not going to volunteer to be out here alone, after all."

"This place is hardly scary," Lora stated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes it is!" Mitch insisted.

"You two have both been very helpful," Winston said suddenly, a faint smile on his lips. "Thank you."

Mitch snorted. "Right. Uh, thanks, you too," he said, shaking his head and walking off in the direction of one of the rooms, although he could be heard muttering _'why is everyone so damn weird and sentimental'_.

Lora, however, didn't shrug the sudden words off as easily as Mitch did. She stared at Winston, trying to figure out exactly why he'd choose to say something like that right then. It wouldn't hurt to be direct. "Why did you say that just now?"

"I wanted to express my thankfulness," Winston said nonchalantly. "...And perhaps Mitch's paranoia is getting to me too."

"I can understand that," Lora said slowly. "But the wording you used was a just little odd."

"Why are you so suspicious of me all of the sudden?" Winston asked, frowning. He was quiet for a moment before speaking again, rather unexpectedly. "I'm sorry, it did sound weird, didn't it?" He gave a slightly sad smile. "Mitch likes to tell me about the odd things I do as well, and I'm getting more aware about what he means. I'm just happy about the progress being made with this 'case'. A lot of people could be saved because of what we're doing." He cleared his throat. "And, well, you've both done a lot more than I ever expected. It's a little heartwarming, you know? There's been a lot of times where it would be perfectly reasonable to just give up, but that didn't happen."

Lora blinked in surprise, being quite caught off guard by the sudden speech. "I didn't know you'd been thinking about it that much," she said honestly, a little nervous. She was easily flustered by emotional moments of sorts, not being used to them. "I mean, I guess I feel the same way..."

Winston gave a warm laugh. "Oh my, did I make you a bit nervous? That's quite cute, actually."

"People don't usually use the word 'cute' to describe me," Lora said in embarrassment.

"If we're arrested, or anything else happens-" Winston began solemnly.

"Don't say anything cheesy," Lora said in irritation. "Don't you dare. Mitch was right, we've only known each other for a while, it's too soon for that sort of thing."

Winston smirked. "Oh, so that means there's room for cheesiness later on?"

"Don't push your luck."

"Alright, alright. I just wanted to tell you something is all."

"Go ahead, just don't be dramatic. Do it before I change my mind, Mitch is doing all the work by himself right now and I need to start looking through those boring documents."

"Perhaps you'd be happier if I kept you here, then," Winston said in amusement. "Wouldn't you like to be away from the boring documents?"

Lora gave him a pitiful look. "Don't tempt me, I have a code of honor."

"I'm sorry, I'll really let you leave this time," Winston apologized. "I just wanted to let you know that you're a brilliant woman," He paused for a moment. "And you've got the looks to match what's in your head, which is quite nice," He added, giving a crooked grin.

Lora almost fell over from the immediate shock from the compliments. She hesitated for a moment before deciding on responding. "You're not so bad yourself," She said, which was rather bold for her, really. Her slight confidence fell as her face heated up, the embarrassment returning as quickly as it left.

Winston looked both delighted and slightly concerned. "Ah, was that a bit too direct? I was just giving a few compliments, I didn't want to lose the chance to say them. You should be aware that others appreciate you, I think it's healthy."

"I suppose," Lora agreed absently, still flustered.

"It's nice get compliments in return from someone who 'isn't interested in dating'," Winston said in amusement. "'You aren't so bad yourself', huh?"

Lora huffed, narrowing her eyes at him. "Pushing your luck," She warned.

"I know," Winston said with a laugh. "You can go now, this time for real."

"Right," Lora sighed, nodding and turning to walk to the rooms. She glanced back to Winston for a moment, holding the gaze for a few seconds before smiling and turning to walk away again.

Winston stood still until the girl had gotten to the other side, into the room, and had closed the door behind her.

His face then went blank, and looked across the room at the many desks.

He took a few silent steps towards one of the desks, eyeing it for a moment before knocking the whole thing over with a strong kick. He stared at the overturned desk thoughtfully as papers fell to the floor along with it, before looking out again at the others.

This situation felt quite familiar, and brought quite the feeling of nostalgia to him.

"Today is a good day," He said, the smile returning to his face, although this time it didn't have any warmth.


	26. I don't remember

AN; This chapter is a bit anticlimactic, I think. I'm not good at action, I like to have things develop a lot more slowly. Maybe it'll sound better to people who don't know everything about the plot like I do.

Apparently Lora and Mitch's rooms are sound proof. They'll notice things are amiss eventually (I think). Next chapter will be from Winston's perspective.

* * *

Jack's heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest it was beating so fast. He held tightly onto Jeff's arm, maybe even hurting the other with how hard his grip was.

Jeff looked at his friend in concern, hardly knowing what was going on. He'd heard the people who had shown up speaking, although he couldn't really tell what they were saying- but that alone shouldn't have made Jack this panicked.

It was silent again now, and Jeff was just about to ask Jack what had him acting like a frightened wild animal, but the silence didn't last long enough for that.

They both froze up again when the loud bang of something heavy hitting the ground echoed throughout the room.

Jack turned to Jeff, slowly letting go of his arm, and leaned closer to whisper into his ear. "You need to get out of here- now."

"What? No fucking way, what the hell is going on?" Jeff hissed back in disbelief.

Jack watched the other for a moment. "Please trust me on this, you need to leave. I'll be right behind you. We're running out of time here."

Another bang, which caused Jack to twitch and become more impatient. "Get up and run, Jeff."

"No, we came here because you wanted to, you're not going to just give up because of a few obstacles," Jeff snarled. "And I'm not sure you're being completely honest about this, or that you'll be right behind me..."

Jack took in a sharp breath of air. "You're sure you want to stand with me on this?"

"Completely and utterly sure," Jeff said firmly, ready to help Jack do whatever he needed to do.

Jack sighed and nodded. "I understand, and I'm sorry."

"Why would you be sorry?"

Jack gave a thin smile, and knocked Jeff's head against the side of the desk they were under, rendering him unconscious.

It was move which mostly worked due to the other not expecting it.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you put yourself in danger," Jack whispered, knowing how deeply upset his companion would be over this.

Jack crept out from under the desk, crouched down and keeping low, and carefully slipped under another one just a row up. He took a moment to try and calm himself down, although it was hardly working.

It was amazing he could be so afraid of someone when he didn't even know who that someone was.

He hardly even had a plan to deal with this that was any more detailed than 'don't let Jeff get involved'.

He was badly shaken up, even more than usual since he was presented with the real thing rather than just bad memories, but part of him wasn't allowing himself to try and avoid a confrontation.

Perhaps because the situation might let him get some answers, but it could also have some very bad results for his personal well being.

A desk in the row right behind him fell, which meant his tormentor was close.

Jack shivered, and tried to take a quick peek out from his hiding place in an attempt to spot the enemy.

He could see the overturned desk, but there wasn't anyone there. Jack looked down the other side in confusion, but there wasn't anyone in that direction either. This wasn't good at all. Losing track of where a predator is was a serious disadvantage. Fear grew in Jack's chest again.

It was quiet, and Jack was beginning to not trust the silence.

Jack remembered another place the threat could be located a little too late.

Jack gasped and struggled as he was grabbed at the shoulders and pushed down, the attack coming from above.

Face down on the cold ground, he almost choked on dust, sputtering and coughing.

The attacker held both of his arms behind his back, and kept his head down with the other hand.

"_Don't move_. We're going to have a little talk, one which has been scheduled for quite a long time," The predator told him.

It was done. He was caught. Trapped.

Somehow he thought something more special, more intense would happen- but it was over just like that.

"After all this time, it's this easy to catch you," The tormentor finally breathed, saying the same thing Jack was thinking. "That's a little disappointing, you know. You should've at least tried to fight a little bit, but hiding... you're still a coward."

Jack wanted to fight, he did, but he somehow realized it would be a waste. He could sense that he wasn't the one with the power here. Did that really make him a coward?

Jack suddenly felt rather numb to the fear, a little empty feeling. Maybe he was accepting that he had been caught and that he couldn't do a single thing about it, so the fear didn't really matter as much. Now he simply felt angry at himself.

There was something else stopping him from moving, though.

"I suppose I can't blame you though, can I?" The other said, tone becoming more cheery now- Jack remembered that tone. "I do have that sort of effect on the ones like you. They just freeze right up! It's more annoying than convenient, having people get all petrified like that. There are a lot of things that weren't really expected to happen, you know? That's what I get for being a test subject, though," he rambled. His attacker was male, Jack could now tell. "Not that I regret it! I was a volunteer, after all. Small problems can be fixed with time, especially now that you're here..."

"What do you want?" Jack asked, surprising himself by speaking up.

There was a brief pause. "Well that's certainly a vague question. I could give any sort of answer to something like that. I want all sorts of things," A chuckle. "And what I want the most is something that you have. It's quite simple."

"What? What the hell do I have that you want so badly?" Jack said in desperation. "Whatever it is, you can have it!"

"What I want- no, need, is in your head."

"My head?" Jack said in a slightly impatient manner.

"Yes, your head. I want to know everything having to do with the thing that made us both into what we are now," The other said ominously.

Jack stiffened. "I think there's been a mistake."

"Mistake?" The other echoed, voice getting a little quieter. "What mistake?"

"You want something from me that has something to do with what happened in the past, from what I understand," Jack said slowly. "But I don't remember anything from my past. Whatever you want, you're not going to get it."

Jack paused for a moment when the other became quiet, but then started to laugh.

He may have been caught, but he'd also now hopefully ruined the other's day, which was apparently going well until just then.

Barely any of what had been said made sense to him, but he could tell that this discovery wasn't something that would be enjoyed at all.


	27. Nurse

AN; All three of the hunters said they had dreams, not just Lora. Winston's went a little differently, as he seems to have a history with the dream giver.

A small glimpse into the past to give a little more insight to things.

* * *

"If I don't get to him first, someone else will," Winston reminded the prophet. "And you'll be the one giving his location away. Whatever happens to him will be on you. It's already your fault that the ones who got away before it all happened are dying. Can you really handle being responsible for more death, especially the death of the one you've been trying to protect?"

"As if giving you his location will be any better," The creature said in return, her many voices sounding darker than usual. "Do not speak as if you are a saint when you use your own words like knives and take advantage of other's guilt."

"My end goal is ultimately for the greater good and evolution of man, and when one takes on such a quest he must be willing to make sacrifices and use any means necessary to get to his goal," Winston said, sounding quite confident of his own words. He had no room for doubt, after all.

"I'm sure you like to repeat those words to yourself many times," The prophet said dryly. "You spend so much time thinking about other's flaws, but you don't ever think of your own."

Winston smiled lazily. "Perhaps not, but I'm not the only one avoiding thinking about certain subjects, my dear."

"You lack respect for someone out of their own territory," The creature hissed. "I choose the topics here. I have taken you into this dream to talk about you, not I."

"Yes yes, silly titles and odd sounds that will mean something some time later. I've got all of that. We're done with that topic, so it shouldn't be so unreasonable to start on a new one."

"It's time for you to leave, Winston Blair."

"Not so fast," Winston said, taking a step closer to the other. "I have a proposition for you, one I think you might be more agreeable on. A trade of information, you could say."

"What exactly do you think could possibly be worth enough for me to even consider helping you?" The prophet said, a small amount of curiosity in her voices.

"If you tell me where our old friend Jack is before you tell the others," Winston began slowly, drawing his words out. "I'll give you a clue to who you were when you were human."

The prophet froze in shock for a few moments. "You'd tell me something of my true identity, even though you could've many times before? Why now?"

"Because I know he's close, and I know I'm not the only one trying to find him," Winston explained. "If I had asked where he was before, you could've told me and he could have been too far away at the time. By the time I'd have been able to get to him, he could have been long gone. I needed to at least pin his location down to a specific area first, I need to catch him, not just know where he is," He paused. "And I was saving the information I had to give you for a special occasion. I was only going to trade it in for something I really needed, but this will have to do." He gave a sigh. "So, what do you say? The doctor's whereabouts for a few pieces of the past. He's going to be found and used anyway, and he has a better chance with me."

"A better chance of what?" The creature asked suddenly, although she should know what he was speaking of.

"Everything, I suppose. Take that however you want."

It didn't take as long as he thought it would for her to give in.

"Fine. You'll have the knowledge placed in your head when you awaken," She shifted in discomfort. "It won't be his exact location, exactly, but a place he will be at one point in time, which will make it easier for you," she said in slight disgust.

"I'd rather have the information now," Winston said, a bit annoyed.

"No. I never go back on my deals, but you I can't be sure of," The prophet said suspiciously. "Which means it's your turn first."

Winston laughed, and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, if you insist." He made a thoughtful noise, waiting a few moments before deciding on what to tell the other. "You were a nurse. You spoke to me sometimes, along with other patients. Actually had real conversations with the people others didn't seem to spend as much time on. You brought in flowers for us on a holiday," he smiled at the memory. "You didn't forget about the forgotten, and not just because it was your job to be around us, either. That's something that makes a real difference, I could see it on their faces when you were around. You'd brighten the room right up- it was kind of like, 'ah, she's here, that means something good is going to happen!' It's a nice impression to make, isn't it?"

The creature in the white suit slumped a little bit. She had almost begun to doubt she was ever human at all. "You aren't lying?"

"You know I'm not."

"I can hardly believe it," The nurse said softly. "But wait- what was my name? Did I have family? If I had a family, are they alive? What did I look like?" She said in a sudden burst of desperation.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything else, I apologize," Winston said, a flash of pity showing in his eyes. "I'd like to be able to strike up more deals in the future, you see- that's simply how it works, nothing personal."

The prophet's happiness didn't fade, although she did straighten up again. "I see. It's still something- thank you."

"Your distaste for me seems to have faded," Winston noted in mild surprise. "I'm not quite sure you should be thanking me, really."

"Funny. You should enjoy that I don't feel such things for you for this brief moment, you know," The creature said quietly. "I have other things to think about now, and I'd like to be left alone for that. It's time for you to wake up, even if not completely, as you'll still be the dangerous dreamer you've been for such a long time."

"You go ahead and think about that," Winston said in satisfaction. "And perhaps you'll be more eager to trade information with me the next time we meet."

"Don't keep your hopes up."


	28. Cure

AN: Next chapter will be from Lora's perspective, I think. She's probably noticed what was going on, a least somewhat. Mitch might've... fallen asleep? (okay that's a pretty terrible excuse, he'll probably do something too, I'm sorry)

This chapter has a whole lot of information and explanations of things.

I'd also like to say that it wouldn't make much of a difference if Jack tried to fight Winston, and Jack really doesn't like violence anyway. He also wants answers, and flipping out and being hostile doesn't seem like a good way to get answers, especially when the other person is more dangerous and unstable than you are. Yes, Winston is kind of an ass, but I love him anyway- and he can't really help it too much. Although I suppose you can make your own judgements about that.

* * *

He'd been tracking the doctor down for years, and everything had been leading up to this. Once he had the information he needed to recreate the cure, he could finally start fixing and improving mankind. He'd been counting on this moment for it all to work.

And yet, his old friend didn't remember their past at all.

Winston stared blankly down as the other started to laugh.

He stood up, and released the one he'd captured. "Get up," He muttered.

Jack glanced up at the other in surprise, before scrambling to his feet, finally able to look at his attacker. He seemed like wouldn't look all that threatening normally, it seemed, all freckles and comfortable clothes- but the look on his face and the feeling he was giving off made a much more dangerous impression.

And then Winston punched Jack in the face.

It didn't hurt him, of course, but it did give him a bit of a shock.

"You don't remember?" Winston breathed. "You don't fucking remember, after all the trouble that I've gone through to hunt you down?"

"It's not like I've done it on purpose somehow," Jack growled. "I wish I could remember just as much as you do."

"I doubt that you feel as strongly about it as I do, Jack," Winston snapped. "Nobody could."

"I do remember a few things," Jack blurted. "But if you actually told me something, anything, perhaps I'd remember more."

Winston frowned, narrowing his eyes. "What things do you remember?"

"Are you going to punch me again?" Jack asked cautiously.

"I won't hit you as long as you stop testing my patience, Jack," Winston said, giving a smile.

"Fine," Jack straightened up a little. "The first thing I remembered was being in a hospital room. I had barricaded myself in, and I was scared. I had blood on me and something about that was bad, I could tell."

"That would be how you changed," Winston suddenly added. "It travels through blood, spit- things like that."

"What? What is it, what are you talking about? How did I change?" Jack said wearily.

Winston shook his head. "We'll get to that. Go on, I want to hear what you think was going on."

"Some kind of infection which turned people into monsters, it seemed like," Jack guessed. "Although... you don't look like you've changed, but you're stronger than I am," he continued curiously. "From what you said before, you volunteered to be like this, isn't that right? And I didn't- you might have gotten it differently, not through infection like I did..."

Winston's face lit up with delight. "Oh, you are still just as brilliant. You're correct, I was given an injection of it, not a diluted virus."

"You speak as though the one you were willingly injected with wasn't a threat at all, but instead-"

"A cure," Winston said, eyes glinting. "It was a cure."

"A cure for what?" Jack asked, interest building up.

"Continue with your memories first," Winston said, shaking his head.

Jack took in an breath, shifting in discomfort. "The next one was my encounter with you, I believe." Jack waited to see if the other would say anything in reaction, and continued when he didn't. "You were saying that we were the same, and I didn't believe you. Then you hurt me," Jack said slowly, starting to feel a little afraid again. He didn't really want to think about that again. "But you said something else. That it was my fault. What did that mean?"

Winston eyed him curiously. "You really don't remember."

"No."

"I said it was your fault because it was," Winston explained. "You created the cure, after all, which the weaker virus version of it came from."

Jack tensed as a realisation struck him. "That's why I was going to destroy my research papers. That's why I kept talking about guilt and how things got messed up and I got selfish. God, of course, it was so obvious!" He cursed himself.

"You were the one who got rid of the research papers?" Winston growled. "Should've known. I tore the labs and your office apart trying to find something, anything, you know."

"I seemed to be getting rid of them for a good reason, from what I'm hearing," Jack said in irritation. "This cure sounds very dangerous."

"That was because you started letting others change it and dirty your idea, but the cure should've been perfect!" Winston argued, panic in his voice. "It can still be perfect."

"I don't think so," Jack said cautiously. "Whatever I was trying to do, it wasn't a good idea... a terrible idea, really."

"Do you know what the cure was supposed to achieve?" Winston said slowly. "It would cure any sickness. Make you stronger. Smarter. Less violent and disgusting."

Jack drew back in awe. "And I was actually... successful in that goal?" he started in excitement, before his face fell again. "Wait, no, I wasn't successful at all. You, the only example I have of this cure- you're not 'less violent' at all."

"There were side effects, yes," Winston agreed in uncertainty. "but only because others had started working on the project as well. However, I am stronger and capable of a lot more thinking than before," He cleared his throat. "And I told you I volunteered, yes? Well, you gave a few patients the opportunity to try the cure first. Patients with terminal diseases. I wasn't going to live past my twenties. I didn't even think about saying no, I accepted to try this miracle cure instantly."

Jack's face blanked. "I can see now why you're so dedicated to this cure. It sounds life changing," he breathed. "Wait, why was this all happening in a hospital rather than a lab?"

"Well, it was happening in a lab that was in the hospital... but you were both a doctor and a scientist, and I suppose you were able to work on the cure there. I wouldn't know the exact details- only a patient, remember?"

Jack gave a bitter smile. "I don't know if I'd call you 'only a patient'."

"Perhaps not. Anyway, it wasn't meant to have those side effects, or get out and spread an infection- that wasn't your fault. You attracted some interest with such an ambitious project, and by allowing others to work with you you were given access to more equipment and things such as that."

"Wait, you didn't let the infection get out?"

"Me?" Winston gave an offended look. "Of course not! I had nothing to do with that, I just observed a little bit of what happened to the people around me in reaction to it. I didn't want it to happen, nor did I enjoy the side effects that I had to live with."

"I'm surprised you admit to having the side effects in the first place. Who could've caused a virus to get out, though?"

Winston frowned. "I can't always control myself perfectly, my emotions just... take over. I'm not happy with it, no, I want it to stop. I'm perfectly content with pretending I'm fine any time other than this, but I'd like you to understand the urgency here. I need to be fixed. I don't like the 'accidental' things I cause to happen to others, such as what I did with you- they just happen." He waved a hand and scoffed. "To your question, I don't know. Someone let out a few failed test subjects, and it spread just like that. It was definitely done on purpose, though."

"Done on purpose, huh... that's not good at all. That's a very bad sign," Jack said quietly. "This definitely would not have been what I had been trying to create. I was quite naive if I let the possibility of such a thing happening even exist."

"You were naive, yes. You know, there was a name a few of the other people working on it used when you weren't around, which I thought was rather fitting," Winson muttered.

Jack looked at the other for a moment. "What was the name they were using?"

"The humanity cure. I don't think you were the only one with plans for the future of this cure, Jack."


	29. A better story to tell

AN; Just call her Lora 'danger detector' Fisher. A small slightly filler chapter? Maybe. I hope this'll help me get on with this stuff.

By the way. Nobody is forcing you to read this fic. It isn't fluff without plot, and never will be. It has main characters that aren't Jack and Jeff. Focusing on Jack and Jeff for too long gets dull for me, honestly. Do you read books for only two characters and only certain parts of a book? That's no fun.

Once again, nobody is forcing you to read this. It's your own choice to read it, and you could go find other things instead. However, there is no need to inform me that you read only for the fluff and two characters, as that's not appreciated at all. It's fine to feel that way, but I don't really want to be informed. It's insulting and not very fun to be told. People only liking one part of my writing isn't nice. I'll always write this the way I choose to, and you can dislike that, but I'll still do it. If you like what I write, lovely. If you don't, move along. Nobody is telling you to like everything, but is it isn't constructive criticism I'd rather not hear it.

Have a nice day. Night? It's two am when I'm posting this, so I'm not sure what to call it. I'll post more soon, and write something longer next time.

* * *

Lora shut the door behind her, waiting a few moments.

Breath in, breath out, breath in... and stop. Hold it.

It was a lucky break that there were two ways in and out of the small room she had just entered, and that meant Mitch's room, the one next to hers, must be the same.

She strode across the room, grasping the doorknob to the other exit in firmly her hand, then opening it softly. Empty hallway. She hesitated for a second, but it was gone as soon as she had touched the next door.

Mitch was lounging in a chair, and it took him a moment to notice her, and when he did, he jumped. He then gave her a bewildered look. "Lora, what're you doing in here? I thought we were each taking a room on our own."

There's a muffled banging sound from the main room. Mitch jumps again- Lora does not.

"Winston's up to something," Lora stated.

Mitch frowns at her. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. There's something going on here that we don't know about," Lora said. "I don't know what in particular, but I know when this kind of thing is going on."

"So you say, but you haven't given me any evidence on this," Mitch snapped.

"There are plenty of signs," Lora said, taking a breath. "But one thing that stands out to me is that he wanted to stand guard. Someone like him would usually go straight to looking through the papers, not being out there. When you're so interested in this kind of thing, and he is the one finding all the information, then you wouldn't leave the finding important clues job to others. He'd probably know what we're trying to find by first glance. Having us try to find these papers makes this whole thing take much, much longer, and doesn't make any sense to someone logical."

Mitch blinked. "Oh. Well... I suppose you might have a point of some sort. That's weird, yeah."

"You were too happy about not having to stand guard yourself that you didn't think about it," Lora said with a small smirk.

Mitch sniffed, shifting in discomfort. "Maybe. I don't think I'd get that paranoid about it anyway, most people don't over simple things like that, but now you've made me nervous, reading into things like that. What's going on, then?"

"I know something is going on, just not what," Lora admitted. "But I'd like to find out. I've been around people who were all trying to stab each other in the back almost my whole life, I know when somethings up. And I'd like you to stay in here, just in case. You can listen for anything going on at the door, but don't move. Even if you hear something odd, I think it'd be better to be in here and not do anything stupid."

Mitch ran a hand through his messy hair. "You're pretty worried. I guess I can do that, but no promises. Wait, does that mean you're going somewhere?"

"Yeah. I'll be in the ceiling."

Mitch gave her a blank look. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Completely serious," Lora deadpanned.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just go up to Winston and ask why he's being damn weird?"

"Easier, maybe, but more fun? No. Ceiling wins. If it all ends up a misunderstanding I'll have a better story to tell."

Mitch gave her a weary look. "I... if you say so. I hope you have fun with that."

"Yes, let's hope so."


	30. Unsupervised

AN; This chapter is odd, and I'm not quite sure I like it yet- but that's how I always feel when I first post a new chapter. This one is pretty long, I think? Yeah, it is. This is the thirtieth chapter, too, so that's pretty cool. I'm excited. You should be excited. (I've never written anything this long in my life, pfft.)

This chapter includes Mitch freaking out a lot, Lora being weird and somewhat cool, Winston being Winston, and Jack feeling very awkward almost the entire time.

This chapter is going to help make a lot of cool scenes for other chapters. Such as Mitch drowning in his own emotions. Sounds good, right? No? Okay, but I'm writing it anyway.

Where is Jeff? We just don't know, maybe I should put out a few posters in an attempt to have him found. He's _probably_ still under the desk, but you can't trust _probably_, can you? Of course you can, don't be silly. All of my words are completely trustworthy.

Probably.

* * *

Listening in to the conversation between her friend, or perhaps only thought to be friend, and the one they'd been hunting had revealed more than Lora had even began to suspect in a very short time.

She should probably feel some kind of overwhelming feeling of panic right about now, since a giant scheme of epic proportions seemed to be revealed. She didn't feel very panicked, however. She did feel panicked very briefly, but that emotion was replaced by what could be described as being incredibly pissed off.

She was angry. Just the slightest bit confused, but not by much, as she didn't have the time to try and sort things out mentally. Not confused about the larger plot that had been revealed, but by Winston. Really, she wanted to question him herself, but was waiting for the correct time to do something about all of this. She didn't even know if she wanted to do anything about it at all, as if he didn't know she was listening she might have the upper hand in later questioning. She could pretend she didn't know anything until the right moment.

She'd have to work for that, however, as Winston seemed to be a much more interesting person than she anticipated.

What a thing it was to discover someone you'd been working with was actually a manipulative super-human monster with delusions of grandeur.

For the smallest of moments, she actually felt rather impressed, and the challenge the other presented was appealing. Risks were appealing. This whole thing was appealing to a certain part of her, really.

She avoided the spark of interest, pushing it away quickly, as it was a part of herself she'd rather not indulge. A part of herself that wasn't quite as practical and good as the rest of her was, or as good she wanted and tried to be.

Once she pushed those thoughts away, she remembered the whole thing was completely insane, and how much the rest of her hated being wrapped up in it.

She also remembered a bit too late, as she was distracted sorting through her own thoughts, that she had left Mitch unsupervised and had told him to listen in.

She regretted that, as nothing good was going to come out of it.

A third voice was heard not a moment later, confirming her fears.

* * *

Winston frowned, and turned his head over to look at Mitch, who had just burst out of the room he'd been stationed in.

The poor little fellow sure did look upset. That was the best word to describe it in a short fashion, he supposed, but Mitch looked like he was having a hard time sticking to one emotion. He was shaking a bit, face red, generally disheveled (he did look disheveled normally, but this was different)- possibly the worst he'd ever seen the other.

Well, it was to be expected. He must've listened in, as Winston had held as being a possibility. It didn't matter, but he felt slightly sorry for Mitch, seeing how emotionally distressed he looked. Not sorry for anything he had done, but sorry Mitch had to have this kind of reaction to it, probably.

"You..." Mitch began shakily, expression looking pained when catching the other's eye.

"You're looking pretty pitiful, Mitch." Winston said, tilting his head and offering Mitch a smile. His speech was quite casual, as he knew it'd provoke a reaction. He was curious to see what kind of outburst there would be from his dear friend.

Mitch's face changed into a look of complete anger, and he stiffened up. "You're a piece of fucking shit, Winston Blair! What the actual fuck!"

"You sound angry, did I do something wrong?" Winston asked, feigning innocence, another thing he knew would no doubt provoke Mitch.

"Did you- did_ you_ do something fucking _wrong?_" Mitch sputtered. "Being a backstabbing liar, for starters. Did I mention_ backstabbing liar?_ You just... I can't fucking believe this is happening to me!"

"You did mention that, yes," Winston replied. "And I disagree. I'm no liar, I simply don't mention things sometimes if not asked."

"We've been friends for years," Mitch whimpered. "And you never mention being a fucking freak monster? I don't even care about that, even if it does scare the living fuck out of me! You were always there, seeing how much I was struggling with trying to find_ this_ fucker-" He gestured to Jack, who had been standing by awkwardly and trying to pretend he wasn't there, but shifted in discomfort when pointed at. "-and you knew so fucking much, yet didn't say anything! Hell, you're a part of everything, more so than I am!"

Jack wasn't sure if he should be offended or uncomfortable with all of this going on right then while he was there, but he was pretty sure he had gotten trapped in a room with possibly the worst people to be trapped in a room with. He was letting himself be trapped, though, so he was partially to blame for this and couldn't really complain. He was actually the one to be blamed for practically everything, so he really, _really_ couldn't complain.

Mitch's shoulders sagged a bit. "Figures I'm experiencing the most terrifying things in my life and my only friend happens to be actually fucking evil along with everything else," he muttered. "and I am terrified right now for many, many reasons, just so you know." Mitch shot a pointed look in Jack's direction.

Winston blinked, crossing his arms and giving a blank expression. "What? You have other friends, though, Mitch. You can forget about me and go back to them easily. Living normally suits you, and you certainly deserve it after what you've been through. I highly suggest doing that."

Mitch gave a look of utter disbelief. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? I don't have 'other friends', you fuckwad. Have you seen me? I'm rude, depressive, and I'm obsessed with finding monsters. People thought I was fucking crazy, hell, I thought I was too sometimes. Then you magically fucking appeared, saying you believed my shitty badly written story and that you were interested. Hell, you even helped me give this asshole monster a name! After all I've done and been through, you just say 'alright, you're no longer needed, time to go home'?" he hissed.

Jack looked over at Winston, slightly annoyed. "So that's why it was actually the same name I had originally, then," he muttered, as he had briefly wondered why Winston had been calling him by the same name that others knew him as. He had thought it was just easier to call him that, but it had been slightly confusing. His real name was the same as the name he had adopted.

Winston didn't acknowledge Jack's muttering, although Mitch look briefly startled by his speaking up.

Winston frowned at Mitch. "You've barely ever referred to me as even _being_ a friend, especially not a close one, so I didn't really think I was very high up in your standards at all. I thought you hated me, really."

"...If I didn't hate you before, I do now," Mitch said blankly.

Winston flinched. That actually hurt, and it felt odd. He hadn't really prepared for this. He felt slight regret, and the feeling was something he hadn't felt in quite a long time. Like he lost something he never even knew he had in the first place. If he'd known he'd actually had a friend in Mitch all that time, would he had done anything differently? He didn't have room for such thoughts, as past was past and it was much better for Mitch to not be involved with him for his own good. Winston wasn't stable enough, and it was too dangerous to be friends with him.

It was better this way, right?

Winston forced a smile before he could do anything on impulse. "Hating me now should make things easier, then," he said, nodding. "However, you weren't correct on what you said. I believe you have a friendship with Lora. You may have horrid self-esteem and often second guess yourself, but she does not actually dislike you as you most likely believe. You two can go back to your lives together."

Mitch was still for a moment. He looked over at Jack for a moment, and then to Winston again. Mitch's mouth was in a thin line, and his eyes were large.

Winston watched Mitch for a moment, before figuring out what was going on. Mitch had run out of the energy he had gotten from his anger and outburst, and he was now remembering what kind of situation he was in. Two 'monsters', as he called them, and one of him.

Mitch did not care about the bigger scheme going on. He did not care about the monster's supposed good intentions. He really did not have the willpower to stand in the room and act like he was unfazed.

Mitch was going to flip out and make a run for it, and Winston didn't exactly like the idea of that. He did mean to let Mitch go, but not when he was behaving like this. This wasn't 'I hate you, and I don't want anything to do with you ever again' behavior, it was 'I hate you, I'm completely panicked, and I'm going to do something about it' behavior.

Winston narrowed his eyes. "Mitch, if you're thinking of doing something stupid, I don't think that's the best idea at the moment. Not that it ever is, but you do like to do such things."

Mitch looked dangerously skittish, and gave a slightly crazed smile. "So you've got super-human strength or whatever, but are you as fast as I am, you oversized fuck?"

Winston wasn't too impressed. "My legs are longer than your legs, and you're out of shape. If you'd like to test your luck, however, go ahead," he said, leering.

Mitch froze, and stared at Winston. "Maybe I'll have a head start."

Winston frowned, drawing back in suspicion. "Oh? How will you be managing that?" He asked doubtfully.

"Through cheating," Mitch said.

And before Winston had the chance to think about what the hell that meant, Lora made her appearance through a ceiling panel directly above Winston and landed on his head.

Mitch took his chance and ran, luck turning out to be better than was thought.

Winston fell to his knees clutching the back of his head, and although unharmed, he was still cursing heavily.

Lora, after landing skillfully on Winston's head (almost as if she had a previous history in preforming surprise ceiling attacks?), had made a second landing on the floor, and didn't look very fazed by what she had just done.

Jack didn't actually do anything, but was still very concerned over this group of people and what he had just witnessed. He had contemplated doing something, but he hadn't actually decided whose side he was on, and wouldn't have known who to defend. He wasn't sure he wanted to pick a side, either.

Lora looked at Jack, and he looked at her right back.

Jack almost waved, but wasn't sure that was appropriate.

And then, he mentally said '_fuck it'_ and waved anyway, because wow, that whole jumping on his old enemy/friend thing so her friend could run away in terror was pretty badass.

Lora nodded in return to the wave, and decided maybe Jack wasn't such a bad guy after all. He_ had_ murdered her brother, of course, and that _could_ make things uncomfortable, but Lora was an unusual person and had earlier deduced that perhaps the doctor-turned-monster wasn't always in control of himself.

It was a very strange and brief moment of bonding for them.

Winston was still cursing.


	31. Kidding

AN; Hi. This chapter has a lot of fun dialogue. The more the story goes on the more fun I have with everyone's personalities. It's pretty calm in this one, too. And pretty long?

I know some people must've wanted Jeff's introduction to these guys to be badass and intense but... I apologize, my Jeff is way too much of a dorky and lame teenager for that. It makes things amusing, though. I'm sure I'll have him act more 'badass' or something like that some other time, but that other time is not this time. He's in childish mode right now. It's fun to write about scary looking people acting like this, I can't stop.

Writing is serious business. (No it isn't.)

So. Fun conversations, Winston basically treating Jeff like a small annoying animal, Lora being weird and unfazed by absolutely everything- things like that. Needed a bit of silly after all the emotional jazz.

Enjoy.

* * *

"Hello," Lora said, looking to the doctor with a thin smile. "I'm Lora. Interesting situation we're in, no?"

Jack gave an awkward chuckle. "Yes, I know who you are, and I'm guessing you know who I am. Although since you do, I'm not sure why you aren't trying to strangle me or anything- because that would be _completely_ justified, you know." Perhaps most people wouldn't be giving others invitations to physically hurt them, but Jack, yet again, wasn't most people. He thought he might deserve a bit of strangling at this point.

"You know, I find myself thinking of you in a different light after hearing that conversation," Lora said. "So I don't feel the need to strangle you at the moment. I'm still working out a few theories in my mind, you see, and attacking first and asking questions later has never been something I was fond of anyway. Ask me about the strangling again later, though, we'll see what I'll have decided by then."

"Right, I'll keep the offer open then," Jack said, nodding respectfully.

Winston, after sitting silently on the floor for a few moments, finally got up again.

Lora gave him an expectant look. "Winston. Sorry about that incident with the ceiling. What'll we be doing about your friend here?"

Winston stared at Lora thoughtfully. "Ah, no yelling? No insults? I expected some good vengence from you, Lora."

"Which would _also_ be completely justified," Jack added encouragingly, getting an annoyed look from Winston.

"Perhaps in a while, but I'm afraid I don't want to have a tantrum when there are other things to be taken care of," Lora sighed. "I don't like mixing personal feelings with work."

Jack frowned. "You consider this work?"

"It sure as hell takes a lot of work," Lora scoffed. "To be honest, I tend to think of most things as work. Effort placed forward to achieve a purpose. Fitting for most things, right? Easier to think that way."

Jack didn't say so out loud, but he found that kind of viewpoint a bit sad. Although in this situation, it might be useful to have someone who feels that way about things.

Lora tilted her head. "I know what you're thinking, but it works well enough for me. I don't like pity, either, so don't even think about pitying me, because I hardly need it."

Jack gave a startled look. "I didn't say anything!"

"Your facial expressions aren't very guarded." Lora smirked. "That's alright, though. You might as well speak your mind since you'll give yourself away anyway."

Winston interrupted them by clearing his throat. "Other things to be taken care of, remember? You said so yourself, Lora dear," he said pleasantly.

Lora shrugged. "I know, although that was a bit of a lie. I did want to chat with the doctor a bit, but I didn't want to have to give you any sort of emotional reaction along with that."

"Oh? That sounds nice," Jack said, a happy little smile on his face. "The chatting part, I mean, not the emotional reaction bit- you don't have to do that just because you want to talk to me, I think."

"Just figured if I did one vaguely emotional thing, I might be obliged to go along with the other as well," Lora said, eyeing Winston.

"This isn't really the best place to have a bunch of conversations," Winston sniffed.

"You already had a bunch of them, though," Lora reminded him.

"I'm aware, but if given another option I think it would be smarter if we perhaps had any more conversations in a safer place," Winston said impatiently. "I say this because you two are acting pretty calmly at the moment, which is weird but I'm not going to jinx myself by doubting it, and since you two are both logical people you should be fine with talking someplace else."

Lora chuckled. "Yes, I do agree with you, Winston- I just wanted to point out the less logical conversations before now and how funny it is that you're now insisting that we have safer talks elsewhere. Basically you should appreciate how calm I'm acting about this, and that Jack isn't doing so bad with it either."

"Hm, yes, you're having a good reaction other than the whole attacking me from the ceiling thing," Winston said, narrowing his eyes.

"That was nothing personal," Lora said, smiling.

"Oh yes, I'm sure it wasn't," Winston said sarcastically.

"Talking sounds wonderful," Jack said to himself, sighing. "Even if it ends up scarily, I really miss talking. Haven't talked to anyone other than Jeff in such a long time, and even though I do adore him being able to talk to more people is completely welcome..."

Lora, always the inquisitive one, gave Jack a curious look. "It'll certainly be nice to talk, as I have many questions, but here's a question for right now- who's Jeff?"

Jack snapped to attention. "Oh _christ_, that's right, Jeff," he muttered, putting a hand to his face and cursing himself. "I forgot all about him. He's going to hate me..."

Winston stared at Jack for a moment. "Did you happen to bring this person along?" He asked.

"Yes, he was pushy about coming along, and ah," Jack sighed. "I sort of knocked him out... I figure he would've jumped out and tried to stab you otherwise, and that wouldn't have ended well. It wouldn't have ended well for him in particular, I mean, seeing what you're like."

Winston gave Lora a look, and she seemed to understand something about what it meant, because her eyes widened and she nodded. Jack decided not to question it.

"He would've jumped out and tried to stab me?" Winston asked, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of person is this friend of yours, Jack? Keeping interesting company now?"

Jack frowned. "I uh..." He swallowed, a guilty look coming across his face. "I can't really say right here, but-"

Before Jack could finish, there was a brief moment of chaos. He barely caught what happened, exactly. One moment they were all standing there, the next Lora suddenly taking some evasive maneuver which including a quick roll and put her next to Jack instead of Winston, and Winston was forcefully grabbing someone by the arm.

That someone being a very frustrated Jeff, who was now repeatedly stabbing at Winston's side in an attempt to get away from his grasp, which Winston didn't pay much mind to.

Instead, Winston gestured to the killer with his free arm. "Is this yours?" He asked, giving Jack an annoyed look.

Jack frowned, biting his lip. "Maybe?"

Jeff sputtered, struggling now, as he had given up on the stabbing for the time being.

"Quite the feisty little guy, isn't he?" Winston said, smirking.

"Get your hands offa' me, asshole," Jeff hissed through clenched teeth, glaring at Winston.

"Mmm, I would, but right now it seems like you're going to try to attack my dear friend here if I do," Winston said, nodding to Lora. "So I'm afraid you're going to be staying right here."

Lora tilted her head, somehow even more eerily calm now. "I'm fine, but thank you, I suppose. We're lucky Mitch ran out, he might've fainted in reaction to this." She gave Jeff a thoughtful look. "Does that hurt?"

Jeff glanced over at her. "Are you talking to me?"

Lora nodded, crossing her arms.

"My face? Nah, not anymore. Cool, right?" Jeff said, pride in his tone, almost forgetting he was supposed to be acting aggressive. He never seemed to miss out on the chance to gush about himself.

Lora glanced to Jack for a moment. "That's interesting. Shouldn't the eyes have dried out or something along those lines without any form of protection?"

Jack gave her a surprised look. "That's exactly what I thought! Somehow, they just stay like that, and he won't let me perform any sort of tests to see why. Not that I'm an eye doctor, so if theres any reasonable explanation that would be obvious to one of those, I wouldn't know. He either constantly uses eye drops when I'm not looking, which sounds a bit silly and probably impossible, or theres some sort of other possibly unnatural reason behind it."

Lora nodded enthusiastically. "If you find out anything further I would like it if you would share it with me, it's very curious."

"Certainly! I'm glad to see someone as scientifically fascinated over this as I am," Jack said excitedly.

Jeff scowled at them. "I'm not a damn test subject, jeez."

Winston rolled his eyes. "Now I'd join in on this sort of talk normally, but you two are getting a bit off subject again."

Lora straightened up. "Of course, I'm sorry. I'm just quite enjoying talking to my brother's murderer, you see, he's quite pleasant."

Jack frowned. "And I'm just glad she finds me pleasant despite the whole 'brother's murderer' thing- _really_ sorry about that by the way, did I mention that?" he said the last bit in a more of a hushed tone, cringing.

"Hey, are you not freaked out by me at all, lady?" Jeff suddenly questioned.

"If you call me lady I'm going to have to call you 'kid' in revenge," Lora warned. She didn't feel that there was anything wrong with ladies or being one, of course, but she didn't think of herself as being very ladylike.

"Okay, fine, but answer the question," Jeff agreed quickly, considerably warned off by the threat of being called 'kid' ever.

"Glad we have an agreement," Lora said approvingly. "To your question- If I am frightened by you at all, I'm choosing not to act on it, as I don't believe it would achieve much. You have an unexpected appearance I choose to find interesting rather than unsettling. You were acting in a threatening fashion, and perhaps still are, but when comparing you jumping out with everything else that's happened today it's a bit underwhelming. You also feel a bit direct. I can understand your actions and their meanings easily, when a lot of other things today have been more difficult to get through my head. Your attempted attack is almost refreshing. Does that answer your question?"

Jeff gave her a bewildered look. "That didn't answer my question at all, but I'm not going to try to ask again now."

"Suit yourself." Lora smiled.

"You're a little different," Jack said to Lora, also a little alarmed. "Not trying to be insulting, I just..."

"Of course I am," Lora said. "I have to be in order to be in this situation. Everyone here is 'a little different', and I think if I wasn't a little odd I'd already be dead, or simply not here at all."

"Makes sense," Winston said, grinning at her. He found Lora's personality and way of thinking rather amusing, and liked encouraging it.

Jeff struggled suddenly before going limp and groaning, looking pretty childish. He then started to put his efforts towards trying to pull his arm out of his hoodie to escape, but that wasn't working either. At least it gave him something to do other than glaring at everyone. The glares for Winston and Jack were angry ones, but with Lora he just gave her a vaguely suspicious look that was occasionally half challenging.

Jeff was uncertain if the girl was messing with him or if she was actually just a really weird person, but either way it provoked him. He enjoyed messing with others but he was also just a weird person normally, so when finding someone sharing those traits it felt like he should be doing something about it. He just wasn't sure what yet. Of course he still wanted to stab her, but he seemed to be on some sort of stabbing time out at the moment, disappointingly enough.

Jeff turned his head to bite at Winston's arm a bit to show his disapproval, and also just because he was kind of bored and felt like biting something.

Winston narrowed his eyes at Jack. "Your pet is biting me. Kind of gross. Are you going to insist we bring him along? I feel like you are, this behavior from him just confirms it. You're going to be like one of those people that bring their horrible little dogs everywhere even though their beloved pet hates everyone."

"Ah, I know exactly what people you're talking about!" Lora said.

"He's not my pet!" Jack snapped. "He's a person, and my friend, even if he's a bit, uh," Jack glanced at Jeff, frowning. "...unbalanced."

"That's a polite way to put it," Winston remarked.

"Hey, look at yourself," Jack said with a sniff. "You can't say much about anyone else's mental problems when you're like that yourself."

"Well excuse me, I'm working on it," Winston hissed. "Is he? I'm all about improvement, but this guy looks pretty trigger-happy."

"More like stab-happy," Lora said, snickering.

Winston gave Lora a begrudging look for her lame joke.

Jack stiffened a bit, feeling affronted by being presented with the issue he himself stressed over constantly. He looked at Jeff again, quiet.

Jeff scoffed. "Talking about me like I'm not here, typical."

Jack inched a little closer to Jeff, voice softer. "Jeff, hey, this is important. For me, for you- for a lot of people, alright? Do you think you can control yourself for a bit? I'll help you, you know..."

Jeff watched him for a few moments, expression neutral. "Yeah, sure," he finally agreed, rather casually.

"Huh. That's convincing," Lora said sarcastically.

Jack sighed. "...Well I trust him. If he says he'll try to control himself, even if he says it like that, I trust him." Jack didn't trust Jeff's urges, but he did think he trusted Jeff. He'd try and do something about it himself, too. As a doctor.

"Good, I'm glad," Winston said, giving Jack a smile. "Because if he tries to hurt her again, I'll kill him."

Jack froze for a moment under Winston's gaze, fear building up for an instant before it was gone again. "I see," He said simply.

Winston gave a laugh, released Jeff, and patted Jack on the back. "You looked terrified for a moment there. I was just kidding, you know, no need to get panicked. We're all friends here."

Suddenly, it was certain to everyone in the room that even though he said he was, Winston wasn't kidding at all.


	32. Tired

AN; In which Lora and Winston talk about things. This is a rather fluffy one, which is nice.

Sometime in the future Jack and Jeff will be talking about things as well, but for now they're just wandering around Winston's house. (Jeff possibly eating Winston's food and messing with his stuff in a really lame revenge. Oh Jeff.)

You know, guest reviewers should give themselves names so I don't get them mixed up with other guests. I also keep wondering how guest reviewers notice when I update... Ah well, must be magic guest powers.

Enjoy, and do leave a review with thoughts, as usual. Reviews make me update faster.

* * *

Lora shuffled into Winston's house, throwing her jacket on a chair and sighing deeply.

She ignored the two new additions of the group coming in behind her, and went to tug gently on Winston's shirt. "Can we talk?" She asked quietly.

Winston eyed her curiously. "Is it time for the scheduled emotional breakdown?"

"It's not a breakdown, it's me wanting to talk to you," Lora said firmly.

Winston blinked, then smiled and ruffled her hair. "Sure. My room? It's over here," He said, lightly pushing her in the right direction.

"I know where your room is- I made sure to familiarize myself with the mapping of this house when I first came here," Lora said casually, allowing herself to be pushed anyway. "It's a habit of mine."

Winston stared at her for a second before laughing. "You do the most entertaining things sometimes, I swear." He then glanced back to their odd guests with a slight frown. "I hope I can leave those two alone for a few minutes to talk to you. Christ, I'm actually tired," Winston sighed. "Antagonizing people really drains your energy sometimes, I think."

Lora smirked. "Funnily enough, I understand exactly what you mean."

"Should I ask what you mean by that?"

"If you really wanted to ask, I wouldn't lie," Lora said carefully. "But you'd have to ask the right questions."

Winston hummed thoughtfully. "...Say, let's make a deal, shall we? I'll tell the truth if you say the right things to me, you know, ask the right questions and such."

Lora paused, giving him a look. "Sounds fair enough."

Winston grinned, walked into his room, and took a seat on the bed.

Lora closed and then leaned against the door, eyeing Winston. "So. I want to know why you didn't tell us anything."

Winston shrugged. "Well. More convenient to use you and just be able to run off one day, I suppose, but that didn't go quite as planned. Cowardly maybe, but convenient."

Lora abandoned her position at the door and took a few hesitant steps forward. "That's what I thought you'd say, but that's another lie, isn't it? A very shaky lie, too."

Winston frowned, narrowing his eyes. "Why do you say that?"

"You seem to plan and think things out too carefully for things to just get out of hand," Lora began, laying out her theory. "You said you can't control yourself sometimes, that your emotions just take over, but when that isn't happening you're very much aware of everything you're doing, aren't you? You don't make mistakes if you can help it, either."

Winston's eyes widened a bit, but he didn't get a chance to speak up as Lora went on.

"You were trying to get a reaction out of Mitch. That would've been considered inconvenient if you were really just going to leave us- you'd avoid a huge emotional reaction. You knew Jack was there. I saw how distracted you were, and how quickly you insisted on standing guard. If you wanted to get away from us you would never have brought us to the place you knew the one we'd been hunting was in. Going alone would've been easy, and that would have been a perfect time to leave us, escaping with Jack without a single worry. You brought us there so we could hear you." Lora leaned in closer to the other. "You didn't want to leave us, you wanted us to leave you. To want nothing to do with you anymore and then give up on this, perhaps. Which was quite a gamble on your part, since we seemed to have more faith in you than you thought."

Winston sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Hm...Anything else you wanted to add?"

Lora blinked. "Well, no. Was I right? It seems I was since you aren't trying to correct me."

"I would try to correct you, but you're almost impossibly good a deduction," Winston scoffed. "Yes, you're right, good job. Figured me out."

"I pieced together things from your actions, but I still don't actually know all the thoughts and feelings behind them," Lora said in sudden embarrassment. "I uh... I wanted to be a detective when I was younger. Terrible dream for someone born into a life of crime, really, but being able to make sense of things is useful in any line of work."

Winston glanced up at her curiously, tilting his head. "Born into a life of crime? Weren't you blackmailed into it, or something like that?"

Lora shifted a bit and looked at her feet. "Well. I didn't say the exact details since I thought it might scare you guys and make you uncomfortable with me, and it's better not to get others tangled up in all of that stuff."

Winston smirked. "...And there's why I lied to you."

Lora watched him for a moment. "You were... trying to keep us out of something more dangerous. Make yourself the bad guy so that we'd hate and want nothing to do with you. From what I hear, you've got more of a conscience than anyone seems to acknowledge, even though it's actually rather obvious."

Winston nodded. "I didn't think of it as being a gamble at the time, but I suppose it was a gamble that I didn't win."

"Because of how Mitch reacted perhaps too much, and how I didn't react," Lora said.

Winston chuckled. "So the kick really wasn't personal after all, then?"

"No, that was only for Mitch's sake."

"So where is your show of reaction?" Winston questioned. "You must have something defiant to say to me about all of this."

"You really want me to say something about it?" Lora asked, frowning.

"Yes, I really do. You seem like you don't let yourself say things sometimes, but I'm giving you permission," Winston grinned. "I know you're mad at me."

"Well, fine, if you insist." Lora took in a breath, neutral expression changing into an irritated one. "First off, I'm not delicate or weak- you can't decide to protect me from what I chose to get tangled up in," Lora said firmly. "And secondly..."

"Go on?" Winston said with a faint smile.

Lora was still for a moment before sitting down on the bed beside Winston. "I was kind of hoping you had a reason like that for lying to us. It's a stupid reason that irritates me, but it's a more understandable and caring one," Lora muttered. "I don't quite trust you right now, but I guess all the charming behavior got to me a bit and I couldn't help but like you a little." She flopped back on the bed. "I don't want another enemy, Winston. I was angry, but now I'm just not for some reason. I should probably dislike you, but I really don't. I don't hate you at all, and I don't think anything you can do will make me hate you- so I'd suggest giving up on trying that tactic again."

Winston was quiet.

Lora lay there peacefully for a minute before sitting up again.

When she did so, Winston just about tackled her with one of his tight hugs.

Lora tensed for a moment before relaxing. "Winston?" She muttered.

"Sorry," Winston mumbled. "Sorry sorry sorry."

"Are you alright?" Lora asked carefully.

"I don't know," Winston said weakly into her ear. His breath tickled a bit. "Nobody has ever talked to me like that. I don't understand it at all. You should hate me, but you don't. I'm just- I'm so tired, Lora."

Lora chuckled. "That makes two of us, then. It's been a kind of a long day, huh? How late is it now, anyway...?"

Winston was quiet for a moment, then he gave Lora a squeeze and pulled her downward with him, flopping onto the covers and pillows.

Lora made a noise of protest. "Winston, can you not-"

"Shhh," Winston purred. "Just go with it. I'm sure nobody will notice if we just take a quick nap..."

Lora scowled. "You know, if we didn't just have a small emotional moment I would've wondered you planned this."

"Me, plan to get a cute girl into my bed?" Winston mock scoffed. "Preposterous! I would never do such a thing. Maybe I considered it to be a possible outcome, but in an entirely innocent way. Now sleep."

"Oh yes, I'm sure it's very innocent," Lora muttered sarcastically.

They were quiet for a few moments.

"Winston?" Lora said softly. "Are you pretending to sleep?"

Winston's lips curved upward faintly, but he didn't say anything.

Lora sighed. "Well I won't be sleeping. Not even pretend sleeping."

It was silent again, but it was a nice, comfortable silence.

Lora accidentally fell asleep a few minutes later.


	33. Oh

AN; More cheesy fluff in this chapter, this time for Jack and Jeff. Somewhat similar to the last chapter. Not quite anything to be considered literary genius, but pleasant. I'll be adding some more detailed stuff on this pairing later on, but for now it's just simple. The fluff break will probably be over soon, gotta get back to the conspiracies and such sooner or later. Just building up the awkward sexual tension, since it amuses me so much.

* * *

Jack hadn't been in a properly functioning house in a while. He would be enjoying it, but he was too busy keeping an eye on Jeff. Not to mention it was difficult to relax after everything that had happened- he was on full alert lately.

It had gotten quiet and awkward feeling after the owner of the house and his partially betrayed friend had gone off to talk.

Jack leaned on the kitchen counter, eyeing Jeff warily while the other looked through the contents of the refrigerator. "How's your head? Do you want to put some ice on it or anything?" Jack asked, feelings of guilt showing up again easily.

Jeff gave him a slightly annoyed look. "I'm fine, I can deal with it. I've had worse injuries, although none of them inflicted by someone I thought was my friend..."

Jack tensed, scowling. "Were you listening at all? Someone threatened to kill you, Jeff! If I had let you go out there you'd be fucking dead."

Jeff froze for a moment at the sudden change of tone, giving a blank look.

Jack sighed, anger fading. "Look- I'm sorry, I really am. I did what I did because I'm your friend. You really have to listen to me sometimes, Jeff."

"I didn't know what was going on, I was just trying to help you," Jeff muttered, finally deciding to leave the fridge alone and acknowledge the conversation that was going on properly.

"I know," Jack said weakly. "I know you were, and that made me really happy. It just wouldn't have been very helpful if you ended up dead. If I had told you what was going on you would've never listened."

Jeff shrugged. "...I guess not. I still don't know what happened. You knocked me out, remember?"

Jack cringed. "Right, I suppose you didn't hear anything then, even though everyone else did... I should explain now, shouldn't I?"

"Obviously," Jeff sniffed.

Jack took his time retelling the story, trying not to leave anything out. Jeff looked pretty pissed off when he was done.

"The guy who treated me like a dog is the one who gouged your eyes out? I'll fuckin' kill him!" Jeff hissed, looking uncomfortably unstable.

"No, no no no- don't even think about it!" Jack said, grabbing Jeff's shoulder. "Don't provoke him! I can't figure out what's going on without him. You can't even hurt him, anyway, so it's useless. Please don't try to take some shitty revenge for me."

"Why aren't you angry?" Jeff growled.

"It happened such a long time ago, it hardly matters now," Jack muttered. "And he's going to help me now. I already get enough stress from the past, I don't want to think about one stupid fucking thing that happened when there are other more important things to deal with."

Jeff groaned, shaking his head. "Fine, whatever, be like that then. I'm not going to pretend to like him, though, even if you are."

"I'm already friends with one mentally unstable person, I don't see why I shouldn't go ahead and add another," Jack said dryly.

"I haven't hurt you," Jeff protested. "He has. He could do it again. He threatened me, too, like you said!"

Jack gave Jeff a sad look. "Oh, Jeff... he threatened you because you tried to hurt someone he cares about. The same thing you were just doing with me. You both can't always control yourselves perfectly, and you've hurt a lot more innocent people than he probably has. In moral standards, you really can't tell me not to work with him when I'm friends with you."

Jeff was quiet for a moment. "I wasn't thinking with moral standards, I was thinking with personal standards," he huffed.

"I know," Jack said, a small frown on his face. "You usually are."

Jeff made a frustrated sound. "I meant I got worried about you and I don't want that fucker to hurt you again, okay? Can you just acknowledge that?"

Jack melted a bit inside. "Oh my. I'm sorry, Jeff, of course. God, you were worrying about me, that's just..." He gave a lazy, happy grin, and tilted his head. "Wow."

"What's with you?" Jeff asked suspiciously. "Are you making fun of me or something right now? Do you have fun making me worry about you?"

"Oh no, no no no, not at all," Jack purred. "I just suddenly- oh wow, you're really cute." He tugged Jeff into a hug, and nuzzled the other. "Sorry, I can't help but want to grab you a little bit..."

Jeff went quiet again, allowing himself to be snuggled. "Cute, huh?" He mumbled, slight annoyance in his tone. "Not my favorite way to be described, but I guess I'll take it. You really think that?"

"Yeah," Jack said blissfully. "I can barely keep myself from doing this most of the time. It's like you're teasing me or something, being this cute and then saying you get worried about me..."

Jeff pulled back slightly, eyeing Jack thoughtfully. "Sounds familiar."

"...Oh really?" Jack said awkwardly, feeling a little shy suddenly now that he was being looked at.

"Yeah," Jeff muttered, staring at Jack for a few moments before grabbing the other's hoodie, pulling him down to a more reachable height.

"What're you doing," Jack asked suspiciously.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Jeff snorted. "Should be obvious."

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking," Jack said irritably, laying his palm on Jeff's arm, the one that he had gotten captured with. "I don't know why you'd just pull me down and-"

Jeff leaned forward, silencing the other by pressing their lips together. Jack's palm slid off of Jeff's arm, and he seemed to relax and lean into the kiss for a moment.

Jeff pulled back again, and Jack's face got a reddish tint once he figured out what happened.

"Oh. Okay. That's what you were doing," Jack breathed. "I see."

"So?" Jeff questioned.

Jack tensed. "Huh? What? What is it?" He started to talk too much when he was nervous. It was a bad habit.

Jeff snickered at his reaction. "So how did you feel about that?"

"Oh. How did I feel about- about the thing. Kissing you. Uh," Jack stumbled over his words, biting his lip. He stared at his feet. "Well. It was nice... yes, that's right, nice. Nice nice nice..." _Damn. Relax, it was just a kiss, that's all. Just a kiss. Oh god. You're an adult, Jack. An adult who doesn't even remember what it's like to kiss anyone, though._

Jeff smirked. "'Nice', huh?" He let a hand rest lightly on Jack's chest. "You wanna do it again, then?"

Jack made a small distressed sound. "Ohhh, well I... do _you_ want to?"

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Jack. That's why I did it the first time."

Jack tilted his head, letting out a sigh. "Oh gosh... I can barely process this, and I keep saying 'Oh'. I think you'd better just kiss me again before I pass out or something stupid like that."

Jeff laughed, and then he kissed Jack again.


	34. Comfortable

AN; I thought I was done with the fluff, but I was wrong. In which Lora complains about waking up early, Winston asks about Mitch, and he also does and says weird things occasionally.

I posted a few chapters in a row, so make sure you don't miss reading any. It's four am, I'm going to sleep now.

* * *

When Lora woke up, Winston was staring at her.

She squinted at him for a moment before pushing herself into a sitting position, rubbing at her eyes. "That's a rather creepy thing to wake up to, you know," She muttered, yawning. "What time is it?"

Winston smirked, ignoring her comment on his weird behavior. "It's seven in the morning."

Lora's eyes widened. "What? Why did I wake up at seven? I sleep in until noon these days- I think you messed up my sleep schedule somehow."

Winston grinned. "That's funny. I would've expected you, the one with the 'everything is work' perspective, to have been one to get up at the crack of dawn."

"I did a lot of work at night and still do," Lora said, shrugging. "Perhaps I woke up because I sensed someone was watching me sleep."

"You're cute when you're actually relaxed, what can I say?" Winston said dismissively.

"Flattery is no excuse, Winston," Lora muttered. "And aren't I usually relaxed?"

"Being relaxed and being unfazed by things is rather different, actually," Winston snorted.

Lora blinked. "Ah. Well... yes, I suppose so."

"Anyway, I'm glad you woke up, I was thinking about something I wanted to ask you about..."

"That sounds vague and possibly stressful," Lora groaned. "It's seven. Can't you wait until, hm, noon?"

"Ha, no chance." Winston slid an arm loosely around her shoulders, touchy-feely as always, although even more so as of late due to Lora's non hateful reaction to him. "Look, I'll be direct with you. I need you to talk to Mitch."

Lora gave the other a disapproving look. "Why? Mitch rather deserves to be left alone now."

"I know," Winston made an irritated sound. "Of course he does, and that's what I intended, but... remember what happened the last time Mitch encountered a 'monster'?"

Lora groaned again, this time more dramatically, when she caught on. "You're worried he's going to post a badly written story about you on the internet?"

"Or possibly try to get the police involved," Winston sighed. "It isn't a huge problem, but the loss of my ability to move around freely and subtly in public would be rather inconvenient. Not to mention that I don't like the idea of being disliked and held as a monster by the people I'm trying to help."

Lora raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes I actually forget I'm spending quality time with a superhuman fanatic, but then you remind me again."

Winston tilted his head. "Hmm, not fond of my cause?"

"I don't think humans are meant to make themselves into gods."

"Do you think of other medicine that improves you as making yourself into a god?" Winston challenged.

"No. I think complete perfection is unnatural," Lora countered, narrowing her eyes.

"If a loved one was dying and you had the chance to save them, would you deny that chance?"

Lora frowned. "I can't say, as I'm not in that position myself. I'm sure it's natural to, in your grief, do anything to save someone. But I can say this- death has always been inevitable, the one thing always certain to happen. If you take that away, everything becomes unpredictable."

Winston regarded her thoughtfully. "Not exactly. Once death becomes uncertain, life becomes certain in its place."

Lora's face blanked. "...Things would change. A lot. And what about overpopulation? With nobody dying, and children still being born, space would run out."

"Like you said, things will become unpredictable," Winston said excitedly. "Who's to say we couldn't find more space elsewhere?"

Lora stared at him, then grabbed a pillow to groan into. She was groaning way too often. "Jesus christ, Winston, remind me not to talk to you about your power fantasies again, you get scary. And when you start suggesting we look to space for more... space, it makes me feel like I'm in a cheesy sci-fi movie."

Winston made a 'hmph' sound. "Fine, fine, if you say so. I do like sci-fi, though. What about Mitch?"

"What about him? Talk to him yourself," Lora mumbled.

"You know I can't," Winston said in slight annoyance. "He'd probably call the police if he saw me anywhere near his house. Well, he's at least said something to his parents like we had a fight and he didn't want to see me. His mom would interrogate me at the front door. Overprotective parents. However, if a pretty girl showed up they'd let you in without a second thought, probably hoping that Mitch had finally gotten a girlfriend." Winston chuckled.

Lora rolled her eyes. "You really shouldn't be laughing at that. At least they try to have good intentions, even if a bit too much. Mine certainly didn't."

Winston shook his head. "Oh no, I wasn't. My parents weren't exactly friendly either- I always found Mitch's parents quite pleasant, even if they tend to pry for personal information. It made me wonder if I could figure out what it was like to have loving parents by observing them-" Winston gave a startled look, mouth opening slightly. "Uh, excuse me, I got off topic. I was laughing because I was imagining how they're going to fawn over you when you show up."

Lora looked at him thoughtfully, and leaned on his shoulder, hoping somehow she had conveyed a wordless 'I understand'. She'd say it out loud, but he was avoiding staying on the topic. She understood that too- it was difficult to talk about those kinds of things. To have the trust to. To not have the fear of being pitied or thought of as weak when speaking up. Maybe they'd both have the courage to talk about that and other such things some day.

Winston nuzzled her hair. "So... will you talk to Mitch? Just convince him not to spread dangerous information on me, that's all."

"Fine, but can I get a few more hours of sleep first?" Lora said, giving in.

"Oh yes, as long as you do it here," Winston said, smiling. "We should tangle our limbs up together more often, I find it quite pleasant."

"If by 'tangle our limbs up together' you mean cuddling, then yes, that's fine too," She sighed. "You're a bit of a heater, too, so I don't have to worry about getting cold, I guess..."

"Oh yes, I do produce a lot more heat than normal humans," Winston purred.

Lora narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "I feel like you're making a sexual innuendo."

"That it fits into something like that is completely coincidental," Winston said nonchalantly. "Although not necessarily inaccurate."

"Normally your flirting might be thought of as uncomfortable," Lora muttered. "But it's actually a bit relaxing. In a familiar and predictable sort of way."

Winston snorted. "Great, exactly what everyone wants to hear in response to flirting."

Lora snickered. "I don't believe for a minute that you're offended at all by that. Your 'flirting' is more amusing than pushy."

"Okay, maybe I'm a bit pleased that you're comfortable with it," Winston admitted. "And that it amuses you. Hopefully it amuses you in a way that doesn't include pity of any sort."

Lora smiled. "No, I just find your way of flirting funny because it feels light hearted and as the word suggests, fun."

This time she was the one to tug them down onto the bed again.

Winston turned his head to look at Lora with an amused look, and she returned the look. "Now sleep," she said, closing her eyes.

"Fine, but I'll just be pretend sleeping," Winston said. "I happen to be an early bird."

"That's what they all say," Lora whispered back.


	35. Afternoon

AN; Hi. I've been thinking that I might have to write a spin-off from this for all of Lora's crime adventures when she was younger- mostly for self-indulgent reasons because everyone knows I love Lora. I could put a few flashbacks to things in, but the use of too many flashbacks irritates me sometimes so that's why I was thinking of it.

Eh. This is kinda short, but so are the last few. Plus in books you can have whatever length chapters you want, did you know that? I looked it up a while ago, it's word count that book editors/publishers/whoever look at supposedly. Good to know. (If it is true, of course. Can't always trust things with the internet, but it makes enough sense that I'll go with it.)

I'll write that Mitch related chapter soon. I'm on a roll lately.

* * *

Lora had woken in the afternoon, as she said she would, right on time. Winston was no longer at her side, and had left a note indicating he had 'something to take care of'. Whether he was simply going out for coffee on his own or if he was doing something more dangerous was unclear, irritatingly enough.

She found Eyeless Jack, both murderer of brothers and newfound friend, asleep on a chair in the dining room. He had his head was laying on the table, cushioned between his arms. He looked oddly peaceful for someone who had fallen asleep on such a hard, uncomfortable surface.

Lora stuck the note from Winston onto Jack's back.

He woke up with a jolt in instant reaction, almost falling off of his chair.

Lora raised an eyebrow at him.

Jack took a second to compose himself, straightening out his clothes. "Oh, did I...? Good morning- uh, is it morning?" Jack offered a sheepish grin, awkwardly snatching the note off of himself and giving it a quick look.

"Afternoon," Lora replied, a small amused look on her face.

"Eh... What does 'something to take care of' mean?" Jack asked in reaction to the note with a slight frown, placing it on the table, then looking up at the other.

Lora snorted. "Hell if I know, could mean anything. No, he didn't share any secret information with me, I'd tell you if he did."

"Oh," Jack said, disappointment in his tone. "That's too bad. I was hoping to talk to him again, just for the sake of being a little calmer about it this time."

Lora smiled. "He's a lot more sympathetic when you get him alone, so I encourage you to try that. I don't suppose you have any questions I might be able to answer, do you?"

"Well," Jack sighed. "I don't know. What exactly happens next?"

"I think Winston's interests are in trying to get your memories back," Lora said. "But if you're asking me, I wouldn't mind looking into what's going on with those other people."

"Other people?" Jack frowned.

"Whoever let that virus get out," Lora said, narrowing her eyes. "Whoever was working on that cure with you, I suspect that's almost certainly who did it. And even if they weren't the specific cause of the breakout, anyone who tries to create a 'humanity cure' shouldn't be allowed to get away with it."

Jack put his hands to his temples. "No. God no. If they could cause an outbreak of a virus and infect or kill almost everyone in that place, who knows what else they could do."

Lora eyed him carefully. "You were there when it happened. It was a massacre, wasn't it?"

"I couldn't remember any of it for a long time, but even when my memory was gone I still had these- these flashes of things sometimes, like when I thought Jeff was injured," Jack muttered, staring at the table. "I don't know, even with everything else gone I still feel like I'm part of it. Like I'm still there."

"I'm not sure you can ever really forget one once you see it," Lora said, hesitantly placing a hand on the other's shoulder. "But you might be able to help more people as some form of redemption for being part of it in the first place."

"I'm not sure I'll ever forgive myself," Jack said, suddenly giving her a panicked look. "It's all my fault, you know? If I had just kept my work to myself, if I hadn't been so trusting, then maybe-"

"Stop. Stop speaking," Lora said authoritatively, feeling a sudden agitation well up. "Of course you won't forgive yourself if you say things like that. Feel your guilt, then move on- you're no help to anyone when you're acting like that. You cannot change the past, but you can change the future. Do not weep for the dead when the living still need your help. Understand, doctor?"

Jack opened his mouth, closed it again, and nodded.

"Good," Lora sighed. "Now, I apologize for my brief discomposure, but it was necessary. I will not allow you to become useless by selfishly drowning yourself in guilt. I'm going out to have a talk with Mitch- you know, the one who had the emotional breakdown the other night."

"Oh yes, I know him, I mean of course I do," Jack frowned. "He's very... memorable. Don't tell him I said that, please."

Lora smirked. "Hm, I can agree with you on that. While I'm gone I suggest you find something helpful to do with yourself. I won't tell you what to do, be creative and figure something out. It'd be nice to come back to something helpful."

"Yes ma'am," Jack said with an embarrassed look. "Super helpful, that's me."

"Don't call me that," Lora said with a scowl. "It's just Lora, nothing more, nothing less."

"Okay, okay," Jack said, holding up a his hands. "Right. Just as I'm Jack. I don't mind being called doctor every once in awhile, though, I must admit..." He noted thoughtfully.

"I'm sure you do," Lora said, moving to exit the room. "I'll see you later, Jack."

"Good luck on the talking thing," Jack called back, before taking on a more distressed tone. "Wait- 'I'm sure you do'? What does that mean? Was that sarcasm?"

Lora rolled her eyes, and decided against answering. He could let his paranoia make him think whatever he wanted to think.

The other guest in the house and apparent psychopath was asleep in the living room. He was laying on the couch, although he had half fallen off it and his upper body was on the floor. He seemed to still manage to be asleep even like that. The fact that his eyes were also open amused her rather than unsettled her.

If Lora was a bad person, she would've taken out her phone and gotten a picture of the ridiculous pose.

Lora just happened to do exactly that, although she would deny being a bad person for it. One should never miss out on possible later blackmail material, her father had once told her. It was one of the few pieces of advice from him she found rather useful. If she ever actually used it for blackmail, which wasn't very likely to happen, she would admit to possibly not being the best person, even if still not 'bad'- because thinking in black and white terms is lame. Neutral person sounds way better.

But really, when you think about it, who needs a reason to take stupid photos?

Certainly not Lora.


	36. Bittersweet

AN; Here we go. It's silly in the beginning and rather depressing later on. Hn, I spent a while working on this. Lora and Mitch talk a lot. Mitch's mother becomes a character that actually shows up. I like her. It's five am when I'm uploading this. Goodnight/morning.

* * *

Mitch's parent's house was officially just about the cutest house Lora had ever seen. It had the stereotypical 'old couple' charm. Pastel colors, well tended to flower garden, idiotic lawn-ornaments, this place had it all. Lora had to grin a little bit at the sight.

A woman Lora assumed to be Mitch's mother was outside, giving various sorts of irritable looks and making frustrated noises at a small lawn mower.

Lora approached the woman, hoping the lawn mower irritation wouldn't affect the other's reaction to a guest. "Excuse me, are you Mitch's mother, by any chance?" Lora began.

"Yes, I'm Mrs. Haynes," The woman said, a slightly bewildered look on her face. She had large brown eyes, naturally messy looking hair, garden gloves on, and slightly dirtied jeans from- you guessed it, garden work. Lora decided that she was just as adorable as her house was, and that Mitch had the potential to be a lot more adorable with a mother like this- he just needed to learn how to properly use the constantly messy appearance to his advantage. "Why are you asking about my son?" Mrs. Haynes asked, tilting her head.

"I'm a friend," Lora said. "I wanted to talk to him. Is he okay?"

"Oh dear!" Mrs. Haynes exclaimed, touching one gloved hand to her cheek, getting dirt on it in the process. She didn't seem to mind or notice the dirt. "I'm so glad one of Mitch's friends came by, he seems a little down. And a it's cute girl!" She gave a little gasp. "Ooh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blurt that out, but I'm just happy he has friends that are..."

"Friends that are cute girls?" Lora suggested in amusement. "It's fine, really, I don't mind."

"Oh, are you two...?" Mrs. Haynes looked as though she feared she was saying something scandalous.

"I'm a friend, Mrs. Haynes," Lora said coolly.

"Friends are always lovely too," Mitch's mother said, nodding. "I think he must be embarrassed to bring his friends here, it's only been that nice tall fellow Winston and now you to ever come to visit. Oh, but I do love meeting Mitch's friends, so it's such a shame! That's just how children are, I suppose, you know? Have to be independent some day," She sighed.

Lora shook her head, frowning. "I hope my daughter never gets like that, even if realistically most kids do."

"You have a daughter?" Mrs. Haynes looked absolutely delighted at this. "Oh, you must tell me everything!"

Lora smiled brightly despite herself. "Sure, but what's going on with the lawn mower?"

"Oh, this dreadful old thing?" Mrs. Haynes said, putting her hands on her hips. "I don't know, it just stopped working! I don't know anything about how this damned thing works, excuse my swearing, dear, but I could just strangle it! My husband is out right now, and he's always the one who has to try to fix it."

"Hm, that would be difficult to do seeing it has no neck," Lora said, amused. "Mind if I take a look at it?"

"Goodness, of course you can take a look at it!" Mrs. Haynes said. "Do you want any tools or anything? I can go fetch the toolbox."

"Possibly," Lora said, nodding. "Won't know until I look, but if you would go fetch it that'd be very kind. Thank you, Mrs. Haynes."

"Don't thank me, you're the one offering to help me with this devil-mower!" Mrs. Haynes exclaimed in surprise.

Lora had to use a lot of self control in order to not burst out laughing at the term 'devil-mower'.

When Mitch came out he found a weird sight.

Lora fixing the lawn mower and talking to his mother excitedly about children related things.

Mitch furrowed his brows, trying to figure out why exactly this was happening.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the lawn mower seemed to be working better than ever. Specifically because of the fact that it wasn't making those weird and vaguely demonic noises. That was a relief.

Lora stood up, coughing a bit before shaking hands with Mrs. Haynes, business well accomplished. She then spotted Mitch and waved frantically, calling his name. Mitch assumed this meant he should go over there, but waited a moment just because he needed to admire how ridiculous the scene was.

Lora walked up and met him halfway into the small front yard, grinning. "Hello Mitch! I fixed a devil-mower."

Mitch eyed her for a moment, and then hugged her, surprisingly enough. "You're not dead," He muttered.

Lora blinked and patted him on the back in amusement. "Of course not. Were you concerned for me?"

"Of course I was," Mitch snapped. "I left you alone with-"

Mrs. Haynes made a quiet 'aww' sound, although definitely not quiet enough not to be unnoticed.

Mitch released Lora immediately, grimacing almost as though he'd touched something gross.

Lora narrowed her eyes at him in a silent 'Hey, I'm probably much cleaner than you are, Mr. Afraid-of-human-contact'. Maybe his mom had just made him uncomfortable, but Lora still owed him a glare or two anyway.

Mitch cleared his throat. "Um. Can we go inside?" He said, giving his mother an irritated look.

Lora nodded. "Sure." She turned to look back at Mrs. Haynes. "It was nice talking with you, Grace," She called.

"Since when are you and my mother on first name basis?" Mitch asked, giving a shocked look.

"Since now," Lora retorted with a sniff. "Don't diss Grace, she's cool, and her messy hair is the best."

"Hey, I have messy hair too," Mitch protested, holding open the front door for the other.

"And you have so much more potential to be adorable than you know," Lora said matter-of-factly.

Mitch squinted at her before leading the way to his room. "You're weird."

"I know," Lora said, waving a hand dismissively.

Mitch let Lora in and shut the door, crossing his arms. He gave a weary look. "So, uh... what happened after I ran away?"

Lora examined Mitch's room briefly, taking in walls filled with movie and video game posters, dirty laundry and other such things lazily strewn across the floor, and a desk with a small clear place for a laptop. Fitting. "You first, Mitch. What have you been doing?"

Mitch hesitated for a moment. "To be honest I cried like a goddamn stupid baby a lot. And I ate an entire thing of ice cream, then threw it up- is that a bad sign?"

Lora raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you know what, I didn't need to know about the ice cream thing, but you'll probably be fine."

"I don't even like ice cream, but I fuckinng ate it anyway!" Mitch exclaimed. "Why? Why the hell did I do that?"

Lora frowned at him. "Is that a serious question?"

Mitch gave a pained look. "I don't know?"

Lora sighed. "Okay, Mitch, just don't think about it anymore. Just because characters in romance movies eat ice cream when they're sad doesn't mean you have to. We all have our own ways of dealing with pain, and obviously eating ice cream is not yours."

"Okay, I got it, that's enough of that," Mitch cringed, very possibly from bad ice cream memories. "Now can you tell me what the hell happened?"

"Right," Lora drummed her fingers on her leg, feeling a little uncomfortable trying to figure out how to explain anything. It would probably sound insane no matter how she said it. "I talked to Jack a little bit while Winston cooled off. He's a pretty nice guy, even offered to let me take out my anger on him. I declined. Winston thought I jumped on his head for personal reasons, but I insisted it was for your sake. He probably still doesn't believe me, since I'm pretty sure his agreement was only sarcastic. Jack's friend Jeff tried to stab me but Winston caught him. I was able to dodge pretty easily, as you can see I don't have a stab wound. Jeff has a smile cut into his face and other things like that, but young people do weird things with their looks all the time so I decided not to judge him just on that. I did judge him a little on the whole unstable murderer bit, but it seems like that's going to be worked out sometime since he half-heartedly agreed to behave. He bit Winston a few times and I made a joke, so it was a fun experience as a whole."

Mitch stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth slightly open.

Lora looked at him, nodded, and decided to continue on. Shocked and confused silence was better than screaming as a reaction. "It was an awkward car ride because Winston had just threatened to kill Jeff if he ever hurt me before we left. The exact wording used was 'try to hurt', of course. I'm not sure what his personal life experiences are, but I do know that I was around and dealing with people just like him for years. Stabbing me takes more effort, but I won't go into that right now, those stories are for other times- and have embarrassing scars to go along with them. By that I mean literal scars, because I've gotten stabbed quite a few times. Anyway, when we got back I talked to Winston alone. He was tired. I asked why he didn't tell us anything. He said it was more convenient to use us but he was lying, that didn't match up with everything else at all. I called him on his lie and he admitted he was making himself the bad guy so we could walk away from this mess of conspiracy bullshit and live normal lives. I think that's stupid and I told him not to make decisions for me, or you. Even though you do kind of deserve to have a normal life. I also told him that I was glad he had a reason like that, because it meant he cares about us. About you. He really didn't know you cared about him in return, though." Lora was quiet for a moment. "I think he misses you. I know you feel terrible, and what he did isn't somehow better because of the slightly good but shitty reasons behind it, but I think I just figured out something about you and why you were so upset. You said you didn't care about him being not quite as human, and I believe that. You said what you did care about was that he never told you what happened, and I don't believe that. When you were hunting Jack, the things Winston knew wouldn't actually had helped you find him at all. Winston had no more idea of where Jack was than you were, so that you'd complain for that reason is bullshit. You didn't care about him being inhuman. You can't logically care about not knowing what had happened in the past, at least not for the reasons you used. You cared because Winston is your friend, and you thought the huge secret he was keeping from you must have meant that everything else was a lie as well. His friendship with you, for example, aka the most important example. That every moment you spent together was some sort of fabrication made only to take advantage of you. It wasn't. If he didn't like you he would've left you a long time ago. You do know that a certain point, even if you two could sometimes get more work done together, he didn't necessarily need you to search for Jack? You could argue that your website was what brought leads in, but he didn't need to be best pals with you to access that. If he was cold blooded enough to hurt you emotionally like this, but spend all this time with you and not care at all, he would've killed you by now." Lora sighed and tilted her head. "So it was real, Mitch. It was all real."

It took only a few seconds for Mitch to break down into a sobbing mess, face in his palms, after taking in all of Lora's speech. "Fucking christ, Lora," He choked. "I don't... I can't deal with this. I can't. I can't fucking do this."

Lora lightly pushed on Mitch's shoulder to make him sit down on his bed, sitting down beside him the next moment. Offering a logical and accurate explanation of everything was easy, but then dealing with the actual emotions in reaction was harder. It just made her sad to look at him so overwhelmed and simply a mess. Although emotional breakdowns seemed to be getting common lately, she had given talks to more than one person. "It's okay. Nobody is asking you to do anything."

Mitch glanced up at her, tears staining his cheeks. "Fuck, are you kidding me? All this fucking shit going on, all these messed up in the head people- I just- I just want to get away from it! But then on the other hand I don't? Like I feel like I need to do something, because everyone else has fucking superpowers or combat training or whatever fucking else, and I'm just Mitch, who has a tantrum and runs away, leaving his friend in danger? Danger that isn't even fucking danger at all, apparently, because I, blinded by my shitty emotions, fail to understand that Winston is messing with me and is a shitty as fuck liar? Jesus fucking christ, this is not okay! None of it is okay! I'm weak and lazy and I hate scary things, I'm such a fucking coward, and even if I had the courage to try and help I'm not even helpful anyway! What have I ever done? I made a stupid fucking website with my shitty story and didn't do shit until someone offered to help me. And when Winston did help me, and he helped a whole fucking lot, I treated him like shit! Just because- just because what, I thought he smiled too much? I should've been fucking thrilled he was actually ever nice to me, and took all of my fucking shit. Actually I was thrilled. I- I was so happy, fuck, but I was so ashamed of myself for being so horrible to him and everyone else. I was mean to him because I thought maybe if I pissed him off enough he'd realise what a piece of shit I was and leave, because I didn't deserve for anyone to be nice to me. He never did leave. Even the other fucking night he didn't leave, I did. You didn't even see the way he looked at me when I said- when I said I hated him. The smile was fucking forced. I told him I fucking hate him and he just forced a fucking smile and told me that you were my friend. Who does that? Who fucking does that?" Mitch grabbed onto the sleeve of Lora's shirt, face only becoming more panicked. "You were right. You were right! I saw him do that. He's done some fucking shitty things too, but he looked right at me and his expression was fucking heartbroken. I saw that and fucking ignored it, even when I was acting like I was the good one. That was evil, Lora. Like literally evil. I'm a horrible person. What the fuck, Lora? Why am I alive?" His hands were shaking violently by the time he was finished spilling everything out. "Can you tell me why I'm alive?" He whispered, genuine and painful confusion in his voice.

For a moment Lora didn't even know what to say, he was just so broken sounding. Then she realised that he was just as broken as everyone else was. "No, Mitch," Lora said quietly. "I can't tell you why anyone is alive. There are no reasons. The only reasons are the ones you make for yourself. I think we all need a second chance. We've all fucked up. We feel horrible. Possibly equally horrible."

Mitch gave a choked laugh. "I could fucking bet money that I feel the most horrible, and I'm broke."

"You said Winston was your only friend," Lora said softly. "Have you considered that maybe you were Winston's only friend too, Mitch?"

"What?" Mitch whimpered. "What are you talking about? He's always talking to everyone, making friends everywhere, no matter where he goes... he doesn't need someone like me, nobody does."

"I basically told Winston that I forgave him, and that I didn't hate him," Lora sighed. "You know what he said in response? He told me that nobody had ever spoken to him like that. Does that sound like something someone who has a lot of friends would say, Mitch?"

Mitch had something similar to a mix of fear and shock in his face. "No... no it doesn't..."

"It sounds like someone who spent most of their life in the hospital with a terminal disease," Lora said. "Someone who was possibly thought of as weak and was picked on as a child. Someone afraid of dying alone. Someone who, despite being unstable, probably just didn't want anyone to feel weak again, something at the center of all of this 'cure' madness. Big strong superhuman Winston might understand feeling weak and helpless more than you think, Mitch. If anyone needs you, I think it's him."

Mitch slumped, staring at his feet. "Christ," he said weakly. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Lora crossed her arms. "Listen. You can't just shut yourself away, Mitch. Life is full of risks, and if you never take them you aren't truly living. As long as we're all here we might as well make it worth it, you know? When you lose someone, you're suddenly alone, and that's painful. You shut people out so you won't have to be alone again, won't have to repeat the pain- but the thing you're doing is the cause of your misery in the first place. Loneliness is not healed by loneliness. If you're going to be in pain sometimes anyway, might as well have some joy to go along with it, right?"

Mitch pulled his lower half up onto his bed, laying his head across his knees, arms loosely wrapped around his legs. His tears seemed to have dried a little bit, he was either feeling less panicked or he just didn't have the energy to cry anymore. "I think I need to be alone for a while. But thank you, Lora. Really. I'm still feeling pretty horrible, but if you didn't visit me I think it would've been... worse somehow."

"Winston asked me to come," Lora said softly. "He said it was for one reason, but I'm pretty sure he wanted me to check on you. Well, he must've known I'd check on you, since that's just the kind of person I am."

Mitch took in a shaky breath. "I might talk to him... sometime. Don't tell him. Please? I'm not sure I have the courage to do it or not."

Lora looked at Mitch for a moment, feeling the frown pulling at her lips as much heavier than it really was. Then, suddenly they twitched up and she was smiling. "I won't tell him that you might talk to him, but I might tell him to talk to you instead."

Mitch pressed his face to his knees, quiet for a moment. "I could live with that."

It was hard to leave Mitch alone, even if it was what he wanted.

When Lora passed Mitch's mother outside, she made sure to tell her that she raised a wonderful child, and that he deserved more than he got sometimes.

Mrs. Haynes almost started crying when she heard that. She gave Lora a hug and thanked her for being friends with her son.

When Lora was going back to Winston's house, she realised that she was unsure if she was happy or sad about what had happened and how she had dealt with it.

It was almost bittersweet.


End file.
